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THE  CULTURE 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/cultureofobserviOOburtrich 


THE  CULTUEE 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES 

IN  THE 

FAMILY  AND  THE  SCHOOL: 

/ 

OR, 

THINGS  ABOUT  HOME, 

AND 


BY  WARREN  BURTON, 

\\ 

AUTHOR  OF    "THE   DrSTRlOT  SCHOOL    AS  IT   WAS,"  AND 
"HELPS  TO  EDUCATION,"  ETC. 


NEW    YORK: 
HARPER    &    BROTHERS,    PUBLISHERS, 

FRANKLIN     SQUARE. 

186  5. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  sixty-five,  by 

Harper    &    Brothers, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  Southern  District  of 
New  York. 


A  FEW  WORDS 

TO  PARENTS,  TO  OLDER  BROTHERS  AND  SIS- 
TERS, AND  TO  SCHOOL-TEACHERS. 


Feiends, — If  you  would  go  hand  in  handioith 
genial  Nature^  and  have  children  learn  easily  and 
much  from  things  all  around  them  as  instructive 
as  books  ;  if  you  would  enjoy  sensible,  animated, 
and  charming  talks  with  quick-witted  and  blithe 
companions  ;  if  you  would  have  the  dear  learn- 
ers grateful  long  afterward  for  a  culture  peculiar- 
ly qualifying  them  for  life's  practical  affairs  / 
if,  withal,  you  would  learn  much  yourselves  while 
teaching  others,  please  put  in  practice  the  sugges- 
tions of  this  little  book,  which  is  now  hopefidly 
offered  to  your  service  by  the 

Author, 


iviG37786 


SUGGESTIONS 

ON 

THE  CULTURE  OF  THE  OBSERVING 
FACULTIES. 


THE   BEGINNING. 


The  beginning. 


The  intellectual  development  of  the  human 
being  begins  as  soon  as  lie  can  open  his  eyes 
and  put  forth  his  hands — as  soon  as  his  senses 
come  in  contact  with  the  material  world. 
From  this  time  onward  he  is  continually  gain- 
ing knowledge,  and  preparing  for  his  future  of 
usefulness  and  enjoyment.  It  is  said  that  all 
the  simple  elements  of  knowledge  and  the  best 
part  of  man's  education  are  obtained  before  he 
is  seven  years  of  age.  These  foundations  are 
mainly  laid  at  home.  The  work  is,  or  should 
be,  under  the  supervision  of  the  parents.  This 
education,  however,  goes  on,  whether  they  at- 


10  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

The  beginning. 

tend  to  it  or  not.  Indeed,  the  child  will  be 
continually  educating  himself.  It  may  be  tru- 
ly said  that  the  first  and  the  most  important 
part  of  man's  intellectual  culture,  as  things  have 
been,  is  self-culture.  Now  this  fostering  from 
kindly  nature,  this  forth  -  putting  and  forth- 
grasping  of  the  infant  faculties,  may  be  greatly 
assisted  by  the  parents  and  other  older  mem- 
bers of  the  family,  if  they  did  but  think  of  it, 
and  would  but  give  themselves  to  it.  Help 
in  this  primary  home  institution  is  as  valuable 
as  in  the  public  seminaries  to  which  the  mind 
is  afterward  introduced.  In  the  majority  of 
homes,  however,  this  assistance  is  casually  and 
poorly  rendered.  It  is  because  parents  have 
the  notion  that  they  have  nothing  to  do  with 
intellectual  development.  This,  they  suppose, 
belongs  only  to  the  school.  If  a  child  asks  a 
question  about  any  thing  new  to  his  curiosity, 
he  may  be  kindly  answered.  If  he  persistent- 
ly puts  many  questions,  he  is  patiently  borne 
with,  or  perhaps  hastily  hushed  or  snapped  off. 
The  parents  have  not  the  least  suspicion  that, 
in  replying  to  such  questions,  they  are  really 
exercising  tutorships  and  professorships  as  im- 


OBSERVING   FACULTIES.  11 

Knowledge  without  books. 

portant,  to  say  the  least,  as  any  in  college.  In- 
deed, it  may  be  affirmed  with  absolute  truth, 
that,  as  schools  have  generally  been  conduct- 
ed, especially  for  little  children,  the  education 
mostly  stops  at  the  school  threshold ;  at  least 
it  begins  to  be  exceedingly  hindered,  as  will 
plainly  appear. 

KNOWLEDGE  WITHOUT  BOOKS. 

Just  watch  a  babe,  and  see  what  Nature,  or 
rather  his  own  divinely  devised  constitution, 
prompts  him  to  do,  and  let  us  gather  useful 
hints  from  the  observation.  As  soon  as  there 
is  any  visual  discernment,  there  is  a  separation 
of  one  thing  from  another,  and  the  reception  of 
distinct  ideas.  The  little  one  leaves  the  mater- 
nal lap — for  what?  to  work,  and  to  get  knowl- 
edge to  prepare  him  for  more  and  more  work. 
He  creeps  about  the  room,  not  only  for  the 
pleasure  of  muscular  action,  but  to  seek  for  new 
objects  to  his  curiosity ;  hunting  for  prey,  if 
we  may  so  speak,  as  food  to  his  awakened  and 
craving  perceptions.  Every  thing  he  gets  hold 
of  is  a  subject  of  interest — a  fund  of  entertain- 
ment; and,  though  his  mother  perhaps  thinks 


12  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

Knowledge  without  books. 

not  of  it,  it  is  a  source  of  most  valuable  instruc- 
tion. We  can  not  just  yet  say  of  him  that  "he 
who  runs  may  read,"  but  we  may  say  that  he 
who  creeps  can  —  can  read  the  great  book  of 
perceptible  and  practical  knowledge,  which  is 
open  boundlessly  before  him,  just  as  fast  and 
far  as  he  can  get  at  it.  Toeing  and  kneeing  it 
along,  he  lays  hold  of  every  thing  within  the 
touch  and  the  crook  of  his  fingers.  Why  ?  he 
wants  knowledge,  and  he  will  have  it.  First, 
the  thing — the  individual — it  is  separate  from 
some  other  thing  he  perceives,  and  he  wants  to 
know  about  it  as  another  and  distinct  object. 
The  several  perceptive  powers  then  come  into 
action :  finding  out  the  various  qualities  —  fig- 
ure, color,  size,  weight — as  they  are  peculiar  to 
each  individual  thing.  Thus  the  child  ranges 
through  the  room ;  and  when,  in  due  time  he 
mounts  to  the  top  of  his  feet,  he  runs  about  the 
house,  and  soon  out  of  doors,  and  then  round 
about  the  premises,  all  the  time  after  knowl- 
edge—  knowledge  of  objects,  qualities,  opera- 
tions, uses.  Before  the  little  looker  and  hunter 
is  four  years  old,  he  is  acquainted  with  hund- 
reds of  things  —  perhaps  we  might  say  thou- 


OBSERVING   FACULTIES.  13 

Industrial  efforts. 

sands.  He  knows  nothing  about  the  book,  it 
may  be,  but  is  he  deficient  in  language  ?  By 
no  means;  objects  are  distinguished  by  names; 
qualities  by  appropriate  terms.  What  riches 
of  language  are  his,  even  now,  though  he  may 
never  have  been  at  school,  and  can  not  read  a 
word !  All  this  time  he  has  been  in  training 
for  the  duties  and  enjoyments  of  maturer  life. 
He  has  been  studying  the  Creator's  perfect 
works,  and  unconsciously  finding  the  steps 
which  lead  up  to  the  Most  Wise  and  Most  Lov- 
ing. He  has  been  acquainting  himself  with 
the  things  also  made  by  human  hands,  and  ex- 
amining the  materials  of  which  they  are  com- 
posed. This  is  in  preparation  for  the  time 
when  he  himself  will  make  similar  things,  and 
will  need  accurate  knowledge  of  fabrics  and 
materials  as  to  qualities  and  fitness  for  specific 
purposes. 

INDUSTRIAL   EFFORTS. 

Nay,  farther,  our  little  beginner  at  life  is 
something  more  than  a  learner — he  is  a  maker. 
He  is  at  his  mechanics,  too.  See  him  putting 
this  thing  with  that  in  rude  efforts  at  construe- 


14  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

Industrial  eflforts. 

tion!  Give  him  a  dozen  blocks,  and  he  is  in 
absolute  bliss  at  work;  building  up  and  pull- 
ing down,  and  altering  his  wall  or  house,  or 
whatever  else  he  may  be  striving  to  imitate. 
How  wonderfully  industrious,  imitative,  and 
constructive !  He  wants  to  do  every  thing  he 
sees  others  do.  Give  him  little  tools  fitted  to 
his  little  fingers,  and  how  delighted !  How  he 
skips  ofi*,  mightily  earnest,  to  his  miniature  bus- 
iness! Now  these  applications  of  his  strength 
and  trials  of  his  skill  are  instincts  and  impulses 
to  prepare  him  for  the  labors,  duties,  and  pleas- 
ures of  life.  And  the  parents,  therefore,  ought 
all  the  time  to  sympathize  with  him,  lending 
a  hand  now  and  then  to  help  just  enough  and 
no  more ;  catching  hints  from  instructive  Na- 
ture, and  carrying  out  her  plans  far  beyond 
what  the  child's  unassisted  mind  could  think 
of  in  his  own  behalf.  But  they  generally  do 
no  such  thing.  *  On  the  contrary,  they  cut  off 
the  little  learner  from  the  very  education  he 
was  getting,  as  well  as  he  could,  almost  all 
alone.  They  practically  declare,  "Nature,  you 
do  not  know  as  much  as  old  usage  does  — 
usage  begun  in  ignorance  and  continued  in  stu- 
pidity." 


OBSERVING   FACULTIES.  15 

An  abuse  of  nature. 

AN  ABUSE   OF  NATURE. 

But  let  US  more  particularly  consider  what 
is  done.  Oh  the  sad  change  which  comes  over 
this  childhood's  dream,  or  rather  over  this  con- 
tented, sweet  reality !  This  is  what  we  do — we, 
grown-up  and  pretendedly  grown-wiser  people 
— we  catch  up  the  active,  looking,  learning, 
working,  and  manufacturing  happy  little  crea- 
ture, and  clap  him,  together  with  twenties,  thir- 
ties, forties,  or  fifties  besides,  into  a  wooden  box, 
hardly,  in  some  instances,  large  enough  to  hold 
them  without  jamming  and  hurting  one  against 
the  other,  and  fasten  him  upon  a  seat,  out  of 
the  reach  of  the  many  objects  he  has  been  in 
the  midst  of,  and  which  he  has  been  doing  with 
as  Nature  intended.  Yes,  there  we  fasten  him, 
or  permit  our  agent,  the  school  committee  or 
the  school-teacher,  to  do  it ;  and  we  make  him 
bend  his  neck,  and  fix  his  eyes  on  a  plain,  dry 
surface  of  paper.  This  he  must  not  cut,  fold, 
crumble,  or  variously  shape,  in  the  way  of  cul- 
tivating his  manufacturing  abilities.  No,  he 
must  look  straight  down  upon  this  metamor- 
phosis of  cotton.     Were  it  but  the  rags  out  of 


16  THE   CULTURE   OF   THE 

An  abuse  of  nature. 

which  it  came,  many-shaped,  many-hued,  there 
would  be  something  to  hold  the  eye ;  but  what 
does  he  see  now  ?  Words,  words,  words ;  lit- 
tle black,  immovable  images,  which  he  can  not 
get  his  fingers  under.  What  cares  he  for  them? 
Nature  made  him  to  care  for  things,  and  for 
words  too,  just  so  far  as  they  stand  for  the 
things  he  has  to  do  with,  or  can  have  any 
clear  idea  o£  He,  indeed,  has  an  appetite,  if 
we  may  so  speak,  for  words,  so  far  as  they  con- 
vey any  ideas ;  but  we  do  not  consult  this  ap- 
petite, but  give  him  the  words  all  tasteless  of 
meaning.  When  I  say  this,  I  do  not  mean  to 
affirm  that  no  explanations  at  all  are  given, 
but  that  none  scarcely  are  given,  in  a  large 
majority  of  schools,  in  immediate  connection 
with  the  things  to  which  they  belong.  Before 
the  child  enters  school,  it  is  always  first  things 
with  him,  then  words.  At  school,  it  is  first 
words,  and  then  things — that  is,  if  the  pupil 
shall  happen  to  come  across  them ;  otherwise 
he  must  go  without  such  substantial  acquaint- 
ance. Now  it  ought  not  so  to  be.  The  period 
lent  by  Nature  to  prepare  for  future  industry 
and  livelihood  ought  not  to  be  so  unprofitably 


OBSERVING   FACULTIES.  17 

Profitable  schooling. 

and  wretchedly  spent.  In  all  common  sense 
and  true  philosophy,  this  paper-deadening,  ink- 
blinding  delusion  should  be  put  away.  But 
what  shall  take  its  place?  Eealities,  life, 
thought,  action,  intelligence;  just  what  the 
child  has  been  forced  to  leave  at  his  own  home. 
These  might  be  at  once  brought  in,  and  how 
easily  and  cheaply  besides!  Eeally  it  would 
not  cost,  on  the  whole,  so  much  as  school-wea- 
riness or  school-hate  costs,  when  it  breaks  over 
bounds  and  runs  wild  into  mischief. 

PROFITABLE   SCHOOLING. 

Let  our  primary  school-rooms,  and,  indeed, 
the  higher  school-rooms,  be  well  provided  with 
shelves  and  boxes.  Let  these  be  filled  with  all 
sorts  of  productions  of  nature  and  art ;  speci- 
mens of  all  sorts  of  wood  and  metal ;  all  kinds 
of  cloth  and  leather,  or  any  other  fabric  —  in- 
deed, with  every  thing  which  can  well  be 
brought  into  a  school,  and  put  in  some  proper 
receptacle.  Let  each  one  of  these  objects  be  a 
subject  for  examination  by  classes  in  conven- 
ient order,  under  the  direction  of  the  teacher. 
In  this  way  the  plan  begun  by  Nature  at  home 
B 


18  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

Profitable  schooling. 

would  be  carried  out,  and  carried  out  much  far- 
ther than  could  possibly  be  done  at  home  under 
ordinary  circumstances,  as  many  objects  would 
be  supplied  by  the  scholars  from  different  fam- 
ilies which  could  not  be  had  excepting  as  each 
was  found  in  a  different  home.  All  the  percep- 
tive faculties  would  here  find  delightful  occu- 
pation, and  be  continually  gaining  in  strength. 
Children  would  hardly  be  tired  of  such  obser- 
vation, due  regard  being  given  to  their  comfort 
and  constitutional  power  of  attention.  Indeed, 
if  rightly  managed,  they  would  enter  heartily 
into  minute  examinations  and  comparisons  of 
one  thing  with  another,  for  there  might  be  a 
healthful  and  spirited  emulation  in  the  exercise. 
It  may  be  farther  remarked,  that  the  words 
designating  the  object  in  hand  and  its  qualities 
and  uses  must  come  into  the  occasion.  These 
the  children  learn  just  as  readily  as  they  learn 
at  home  the  name  of  the  lamp,  and  that  it  is 
bright  and  hot,  or  the  terms  belonging  to  any 
thing  else.  Language  is  not  lost,  but  rather 
richly  gained,  by  such  use  of  the  time.  Fur- 
thermore, just  consider  the  practical  utility  of 
this  mode  of  education.     What  a  wide  and  mi- 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  19 

Profitable  schooling. 

nute  acquaintance  is  formed  with  things,  as 
necessaries,  comforts,  and  luxuries  in  living,  or 
as  appertaining  to  the  various  affairs  of  busi- 
ness! How  the  quality  of  the  material  and  of 
the  manufacture  of  a  commodity  will  be  com- 
pared with  the  quality  of  another  of  the  same 
kind ;  so  that,  by  the  time  the  child  shall  be 
old  enough  to  leave  school,  he  shall  have  run 
through  the  whole  range  of  objects  ever  used 
in  ordinary  life,  and  be  able  to  detect  the  mi- 
nutest differences  between  one  and  another  of 
the  same  sort !  With  such  a  training,  it  would 
be  utterly  impossible  for  manufacturer  or  trader 
to  impose  an  inferior  production  on  the  pur- 
chaser. He  must  proportion  his  price  to  the 
quality,  or  keep  his  goods  on  his  hands.  With 
the  ignorance  of  commodities  in  which  people 
have  been  kept  until  grown  up  and  obliged  to 
purchase  for  themselves,  how  continually  have 
they  been  subjected  to  impositions  on  their 
credulity,  and  to  consequent  annoyance  of  spir- 
it!  It  has  really  taken  a  lifetime  to  obtain 
that  practical  knowledge  of  qualities  and  fit- 
nesses which  might  be  acquired  by  boys  and 
girls  before  they  are  half  through  their  teens, 


20  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

Profitable  schooling. 

were  the  common-sense  and  time-saving  meth- 
od above  explained  adopted.  How  also  are 
the  poor  now  imposed  upon !  They  must  take 
a  second  or  third  rate  article  at  a  very  lit- 
tle reduction  from  the  price  of  the  best,  to 
make  a  small  saving.  Yet,  in  the  long  run, 
theirs  are  the  dearest  purchases  of  all.  But 
with  such  an  education  there  could  scarcely  be 
any  imposition  on  any  body.  The  children  of 
the  poor  in  our  common  schools  are  equally 
learners  with  those  of  the  rich.  If  those  who 
are  pinched  for  money  must  seek  the  cheapest 
thing,  they  will  know  exactly  its  comparative 
value,  and  will  either  have  fair  terms,  or  go  to 
some  competitor  more  favorable  to  their  circum- 
stances. Then  the  struggle  would  be  among 
the  manufacturers  to  see  who  should  excel — 
who  should  go  ahead  in  improvement  —  as 
knowing  that  the  purchasers  have  been  train- 
ed from  very  infancy  to  detect  imperfections. 
Then  the  trader  could  not  deceive  the  buyer, 
if  the  manufacturer  should  succeed  in  deceiv- 
ing him.  Indeed,  retailer,  jobber,  wholesale 
dealer,  and  manufacturer  must  all  be  honest 
men,  selling  at  prices  exactly  just;  that  is,  ac- 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  21 

Loss  and  gain. 

cording  to  quality,  all  other  circumstances  be- 
ing equitably  considered.  If  every  article  in 
a  dry-goods  store,  or  a  grocery,  or  any  other 
furnishing  establishment  were  thus  put  to  the 
test  of  minute  examination  and  comparison, 
the  reign  of  that  old  hollow-hearted  despot 
whose  power  is  in  his  own  pretense  and  in  the 
ignorance  of  his  subjects  —  the  reign  of  King 
Sham — would  be  ended. 

LOSS  AND  GAIN. 

Thus  much  might,  easily  be  done  in  our 
schools ;  yes,  and  money  enough  might  be 
saved  by  the  "operation,"  as  trading  people 
have  the  term,  to  pay  the  whole  school-tax. 
Just  think  of  it,  friends!  how  much  the  major- 
ity of  people  actually  lose  out  of  pocket  by 
overpaying  for  poor  commodities !  or,  if  price 
and  quality  do  go  honestly  together,  how  much 
discomfort  is  often  occasioned  to  the  body  and 
trouble  to  the  spirit  by  these  cheap  imperfec- 
tions !  How  often,  too,  the  purse  suffers  in  the 
long  run  by  all  the  rips,  breakages,  and  good- 
for-nothingness  for  which  the  few  dollars  or 
few  cents  saved  are  far  from  making  up !    Who 


22  THE  CULTURE   OF  THE 

Loss  and  gain. 

has  not  had  occasion  to  feel  the  truth  of  the 
saying,  "  the  cheapest  things  are  the  dearest?" 
Just  look  round  your  premises,  and  take  a  dis- 
tinct observation  of  all  the  various  necessaries, 
comforts,  luxuries,  and  elegances  there  gather- 
ed. Consider  the  ceaseless  rush  of  wearables, 
eatables,  drinkables,  and  burnables  into  your 
household  receptacles.  Then  reflect  that  all 
this  mixed  and  continuous  avalanche  of  earth- 
ly matter  is  sweeping  through  your  doors  from 
the  beginning  to  the  end  of  married  life,  half  a 
century  perhaps  and  more,  costing  to  moderate 
fortunes,  for  fifty  years,  fifty  thousand  dollars 
at  least,  and  to  others  twice  or  four  times  that 
amount ;  and  then  reflect  how  often  through 
this  long  period  the  twain  and  their  depend- 
ents have  been  mistaken,  have  been  cheated, 
or  somehow  have  lost  in  their  bargainings,  in 
consequence  of  not  having  their  senses  about 
them — at  least  one  sense  wide  open  and  sharp 
— that  is,  the  sight.  Yes,  friends,  take  all  these 
absolute  realities  into  a  clear  comprehension, 
and  then  tell  me  whether  the  shelves  and  boxes 
of  specimen  goods  at  the  school-room,  and  the 
careful  inspection  and  comparison  of  them  by 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  23 


Loss  and  gain. 


the  pupils  in  the  course  of  all  the  long  years 
passed  there,  are  nothing  but  a  theorist's  whim. 
But,  alas!  even  if  you  should  think  this  com- 
modity project  not  a  whim,  but  rather  an  all- 
important  requisite,  it  would  be  quite  in  vain 
as  schools  are  now  arranged.  Even  if  par- 
ents, committees,  and  teachers  should  all  be 
convinced  of  the  value  of  the  proposition,  it 
might  take  no  short  time  to  get  it  into  action. 
Who  does  not  know  that  public  improvements, 
however  well  acknowledged,  are  often  post- 
poned for  years?  Inconvenient  and  unhealthy 
school-rooms  in  cities,  and  miserable  old  school- 
houses  in  the  country,  prove  this  fact.  The  bet- 
ter time,  however,  is  coming,  as  a  few  schools 
here  and  there  in  our  country  bear  witness. 
In  the  mean  time,  good  parents,  what  shall  pre- 
vent you  from  going  into  this  commodity- 
training  at  once  in  your  own  families?  In- 
deed, your  children  are  at  it  now,  all  by  them- 
selves— even  the  youngest  creeper  on  the  car- 
pet. They  only  want  a  little  assistance.  Their 
senses  are  all  alive  and  awake ;  their  observ- 
ing faculties  are  at  their  appointed  work.  The 
difficulty  is,  there  are  so  many  new  things  all 


24  THE   CULTURE  OF  THE 

Loss  and  gain. 

about  in  this  freshly  entered  world,  that  they 
do  not  work  long  enough  on  one  piece  of  mat- 
ter ;  they  are  not  thorough.  Now  what  these 
little  candidates  for  purchases  and  house-keep- 
ing want  is  your  help  and  companionship  in 
inspection.  How  much  can  be  learned  of  real 
substantial  knowledge  even  before  the  child 
shall  arrive  at  the  school-going  age !  Without 
any  help  at  all,  except  his  own  keen  senses  or 
the  eager  perceptives  behind  them,  he  becomes 
marvelously  knowing  at  four  or  five  years  of 
age.  Now,  amid  all  your  gettings  of  new 
things,  what  a  constant  opportunity  is  there 
for  him  to  get  an  understanding  of  them,  if 
you  will  but  stop  to  show  him !  What  ample 
time  is  there  during  the  three  meals  a  day,  at 
the  table,  for  the  inspection  of  things  in  use 
upon  it,  and  for  talk  about  those  which  have 
been  seen  elsewhere !  Indeed,  friends,  you  may 
take  your  children  along  through  your  whole 
house-world,  and  over  and  over  again,  search- 
ing every  thing  as  thoroughly  as  air,  light,  and 
heat  search  them,  by  the  time  they  shall  come 
to  the  edge  of  their  youthful  years.  Even  a 
seven-year-old  errand-doer  would  have  some- 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  25 

Loss  and  gain. 

thing  like  a  mature  judgment  as  to  the  bad, 
the  better,  and  the  best,  at  the  store  where  he 
carries  your  cents,  dimes,  and  quarters,  to  bring 
you  back,  as  you  hope,  the  best  article  to  be 
had  for  the  money.  You  would  find,  I  can 
affirm  without  fear  of  contradiction,  the  im- 
mortal adage  to  be  true  even  of  a  child,  that 
**  knowledge  is  power" — power  over  a  store- 
keeper or  any  other  money-maker.  Just  try 
the  plan  at  once,  my  friends,  and  be  convinced. 
You  will  then  have  something  to  talk  about 
with  your  children,  not  so  much  to  grumble 
about,  and  not  so  much  time  for  grumbling. 
Finally,  when  you  shall  have  thoroughly  proved 
the  value  and  the  pleasure  of  this  thing — learn- 
ing in  the  home  seminary — then  try  all  your 
influence  for  a  change  in  the  school.  Both  in- 
stitutions earnestly  working  together,  be  as- 
sured that  all  sorts  of  producers  would  have 
to  go  ahead  toward  perfection,  and  trade  would 
be  compelled  to  be  honest.  Adulteration,  that 
vile  deceiver,  that  sometimes  awful  poisoner, 
would  be  cornered,  starved  out,  and  have  to 
give  up.  Old  and  mighty  Sham,  as  was  inti- 
mated before,  would  have  to  abdicate,  and  his 
line  would  perish. 


26  THE  CULTURE  OF  THE 

Infantile  activity. 

Much  more  is  yet  to  be  said  about  the  inves- 
tigation of  material  things.  I  shall  now  take 
up  the  subject  somewhat  methodically,  and  in 
various  relations.  All,  however,  will  have  a 
bearing  more  or  less  on  practical  utility. 

INFANTILE  ACTIVITY. 

The  exercise  of  the  observing  faculties — ob- 
ject-study— ^begins  in  early  infancy,  prompted 
by  the  inborn  instincts.  Some  hints  apper- 
taining to  this  tenderest  age  may  be  of  bene- 
fit, so  they  are  here  given  intermediately  as.we 
pass  along. 

Set  it  down,  friends,  as  a  fact  that  your  chil- 
dren want  things  substantial  and  palpable  to 
the  senses  from  the  time  they  are  put  on  the 
floor  from  the  mother's  lap.  They  must  have 
them  at  first  or  nothing.  Let  them,  therefore, 
have  what  they  want,  but  it  must  be  judicious- 
ly and  properly.  The  infant  is  pleased  with 
that  which  he  can  grasp,  and  shake  about,  and 
put  to  his  mouth.  But  do  not,  like  some  ig- 
norant parents,  give  him  what  would  be  hurt- 
ful—  a  painted  toy,  for  instance  —  so  that  he 
shall  be  in  danger  of  sucking  the  paint  and  of 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES. 


Infantile  activity. 


being  poisoned ;  for  the  taste  is  one  of  the  first 
avenues  to  infantile  knowledge  and  enjoyment, 
and  there  is  a  sucking  instinct.  Put  into  his 
hands  little  hard  things  of  different  shapes,  and 
made  of  ivory,  or  some  other  clean,  firm  sub- 
stance, which  may  be  found,  perhaps,  at  the 
toy-shop ;  or  things  of  solid  wood,  which  you 
can  carve  out  for  yourself.  When  he  shall 
fairly  get  upon  the  floor,  there  to  be  seated 
like  a  monarch  on  his  throne,  or  to  move  about 
like  a  mechanic  in  his  shop,  provide  him  with 
little  blocks,  and  other  manageable  things,  to 
pile  up  and  toss  about.  When  he  shall  be  old 
enough  to  try  any  thing  like  building  with 
them,  some  one  should  show  him  how,  and 
help  his  beginning.  Few  probably  need  this 
hint;  yet  some  are  too  busy  with  work  or 
amusements,  or  too  indolent  to  stoop  a  few 
moments  to  the  incipient  constructor,  if  he  is 
not  in  the  way  of  their  feet,  or  makes  no  dis- 
turbing cries.  Any  thing  which  will  not  harm 
him,  and  which  he  himself  can  not  injure, 
might  be  within  his  domain  or  his  workshop. 
Pray  use  the  good  sense  not  to  let  him  have, 
even  to  gain  a  moment's  quiet,  what  he  may 


28  THE  CULTURE   OF  THE 

Sympathy  wanted. 

tear  or  deface,  such  as  the  yet-unread  newspa- 
per or  a  valuable  book.  He  must  understand 
that  he  can  never  have  such  things,  at  least 
unless  there  are  those  of  the  kind  devoted  to 
his  special  use  alone.  You  will  save  a  great 
deal  of  time  and  trouble  by  firmness  in  this 
matter.  In  process  of  the  months  he  becomes 
a  traveler  on  all-fours  about  the  room ;  he  is 
in  search  of  curiosities  and  adventures.  It  is 
now  far  better  to  keep  entirely  out  of  his  reach 
things  he  must  not  touch,  than  to  be  ever  anx- 
iously on  the  watch,  and  perpetually  stopping, 
thwarting,  and  irritating  the  headlong  discov- 
erer. As  for  things  which  can  not  be  put 
aside,  such  as  the  stove  or  the  fireplace,  and 
the  implements  belonging  to  them,  just  let  him 
understand  that  it  is  your  will,  which  can  not 
he  changed^  that  he  must  never  touch  them.  If 
necessary,  just  let  him  get,  under  your  careful 
watch,  an  uncomfortably  hot,  but  not  a  burnt 
finger  a  few  times,  and  he  will  perceive  why 
he  must  not  go  too  far  in  that  direction. 

SYMPATHY  WANTED. 

Enough  has  been  said,  perhaps,  to  indicate 


OBSERVING   FACULTIES.  29 

Sympathy  wanted. 

how  a  child  may  be  entertained  and  instructed 
for  the  first  year.  As  the  second  comes  on,^ 
he  begins  to  run  about,  and  to  go  every  where, 
and  get  at  every  thing,  and  you  are  put  to 
your  wits  to  keep  him  within  safe  bounds. 
He  is  perpetually  finding  new  things.  His 
brain  is  too  weak  to  be  kept  very  long  at  one 
single  object,  so  it  is  a  happy  provision  that 
curiosity  should  carry  him  quickly  from  one 
thing  to  another.  Nevertheless,  let  him  hold 
on  to  what  he  has  as  long  as  he  will ;  the  lon- 
ger the  better ;  for  thus  he  will  form  the  hab- 
it of  concentrated  attention,  preparing  him  to 
stick  to  a  lesson  till  he  thoroughly  learns  it,  or 
to  any  other  pursuit  in  the  future  till  he  shall 
have  accomplished  it.  By -and -by,  when  he 
shall  discover  some  new  and  curious  thing,  he 
will  run  with  it  to  you  if  he  can,  or  bring  you 
to  it,  to  show  you  what  a  wonderful  discovery 
he  has  made.  He  is  a  social  being,  such  as  he 
is  to  be,  or  ought  to  be  in  all  his  after  life.  It 
is  worthy  of  remark,  and  of  gratitude  also  to 
the  good  Creator,  how  children  want  the  pres- 
ence, the  attention,  and  especially  the  sympa- 
thy of  others.     Above  all  things,  in  gratifying 


30  THE  CULTURE   OF  THE 

Individualizing. 

curiosity,  and  getting  knowledge,  and  doing 
their  little  play -work,  they  crave  sympathy. 
How  this  infantile  innocence  instructs  far-off 
manhood  and  womanhood,  and  rebukes  solita- 
ry and  cold  self-seeking!  Your  child  wants 
sympathy;  give  it  to  him  on  the  spot.  He 
will  be  satisfied  with  a  very  little.  Do  not 
turn  him  abruptly  off,  unless  the  house  should 
be  on  fire,  or  somebody  is  in  agonizing  pain, 
and  must  have  help  at  once.  Look  as  he 
holds  up  his  new-found  treasure:  look!  per- 
haps you  will  learn  something  yourself;  for 
children  often  find  out  interesting  items  of 
knowledge  which  their  parents  had  been  utter- 
ly ignorant  of  before.  Then  dismiss  the  nov- 
elty-finder with  a  tender  word  and  a  kind  look, 
and  he  will  -run  away  as  happy  as  ever  Agas- 
siz  was  after  having  discovered  and  lectured 
about  some  new  species  of  fish ;  for  genial 
science  delights  to  impart  as  well  as  to  find. 

INDIVIDUALIZING. 
But  your  child  has  begun  to  talk :  he  calls 
things  by  name ;  that  is,  if,  with  all  patience, 
you  will  tell  him  what  the  names  are.     Now 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  81 

Individualizing. 

or  soon  you  may  help  him  to  cultivate  into 
strength  and  acuteness  the  most  important  per- 
ceptive faculty  of  his  mind ;  it  is  the  individu- 
alizing faculty.  The  phrenologists  name  it  "in- 
dividuality." All  qualities  of  material  things 
which  fit  them  for  special  uses  inhere  in  sepa- 
rate individual  objects.  Certain  qualities  are 
combined  together,  and  thus  form  a  certain  spe- 
cies of  things.  Now,  unless  the  sense  distinct- 
ly detects  and  gets  hold  of  the  thing,  the  quali- 
ties and  uses  can  not  be  apprehended.  So,  one 
of  the  very  first  observing  powers  put  in  ac- 
tion is  that  of  individuality.  It  is  not  some 
new  quality,  but  some  new  and  distinct  object 
which  the  child  drives  at  and  lays  hold  of, 
and  then  he  looks  for  its  properties.  Some 
have  this  faculty  constitutionally  much  stron- 
ger than  others.  Many  a  boy  and  girl,  many 
a  man  and  woman,  go  along  the  roads  in  a 
country  place,  or  the  streets  of  a  city,  with 
their  eyes  half  shut,  or  gazing  about  with  a 
vacant  stare,  or  fastened  straightforward  upon 
nothing.  Others  observe  every  thing,  and  gain 
knowledge  at  every  step  and  at  every  turn  of 
the  eye.     Such  being  the  constitutional  differ- 


32  THE  CULTURE   OF  THE 

The  object  game. 

ence  in  children,  it  will  be  well  for  parents  to 
attend  early  to  this  matter.  Perhaps  they 
themselves  are  deficient  in  this  individualizing 
ability,  and  it  is  time  that  they  should  make 
up  the  deficiency. 

THE   OBJECT  GAME. 

As  a  mutual  benefit  and  pleasure  indeed,  let 
parent  and  child  have  a  sort  of  game  at  finding 
objects.  It  may  be  called  "the  thing  game," 
or,  if  you  please,  "  the  object  game."  The  wall, 
ceiling,  window,  floor,  carpet,  table,  chairs,  and 
so  on,  will  probably  first  strike  attention,  and 
be  named.  Soon  all  the  prominent  objects  of 
the  room  will  be  exhausted.  Then  there  will 
be  a  scramble  for  something  more.  Objects 
will  be  discovered  which  otherwise  would  not 
have  met  the  eye,  or  been  thought  of  The 
head  of  a  nail,  a  shred  of  cloth,  the  minutest 
thread,  or  any  particle  of  matter;  a  spot  or 
mark  on  the  furniture  or  wall,  or  any  thing 
else — any  thing  which  may  bear  a  name,  will 
be  detected  one  after  another;  and  he  is  the 
victor  who  shall  find  the  minutest  or  most  out- 
of-the-way  thing  to  which  may  be  put  a  name. 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  83 

The  object  game. 

or  the  last  thing  to  be  found.  At  another 
time  the  same  game  may  be  played  with  ob- 
jects in  the  yard,  or  any  where  around  the 
house,  or  as  far  away  as  the  sight  can  reach 
from  door  or  window.  Different  apartments 
in  tlie  house  may  be  made  the  scene  of  the 
game.  If  the  time  be  the  dark  evening  or  a 
winter's  cold  day,  let  the  trial  be  who  shall 
call  to  recollection  the  most  objects  in  some 
other  room  in  the  house,  or  in  the  more  distant 
shed  or  barn.  What  an  inventory  will  thus 
be  made  of  the  implements  and  various  goods 
of  the  household !  You  might  go  farther  and 
call  to  recollection  what  may  have  been  no- 
ticed in  a  neighbor's  domicile,  or  any  where 
else.  Thus,  in  mere  exciting  pastime,  you  will 
develop  in  your  child  and  in  yourselves  the 
central  and  most  important  faculty  of  the  intel- 
lect. You  will  all  be  trained  to  keep  your  eyes 
open,  to  look,  to  see,  and  to  separate  one  thing 
from  another,  and  thus  to  obtain  knowledge 
of  new  and  distinct  things  wherever  you  go. 
How  keen  at  catching  objects  at  a  glance  will 
you  become,  if  you  only  try !  You  know  how 
the  sailor  will  discover  a  ship  at  the  distant 
C 


34  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

Qualities:  form. 

horizon  when  it  seems  but  a  speck,  but  whicli 
the  undisciplined  passenger  could  not  possibly 
perceive.  It  is  because  he  has  been  for  years 
searching  the  ocean's  surface  for  any  object 
which  may  break  the  blank  uniformity,  and 
especially  for  his  eye's  love — a  sail.  His  suc- 
cess at  such  perception  is  a  matter  of  discipline 
and  use.  Just  so  the  sight  of  children  might 
be  trained  to  acuteness  of  observation  among 
the  objects  on  the  land,  if  parents  would  set 
themselves  and  their  children  about  it.  Of 
course,  as  was  intimated  before,  there  will  be 
differences  in  accomplishment  according  to  dif- 
ferences in  organic  constitution. 

QUALITIES:    FORM. 

Next  after  individualizing  the  world  of  mat- 
ter around  comes  the  learning  of  the  forms  of 
things.  These  forms  can  be  seen  by  the  eye 
in  the  light  —  can  be  felt  by  the  hand  in  the 
dark :  they  are  the  objects  of  two  senses. 
Soon  will  the  child  learn  the  ideas  and  the 
names,  long  and  short,  square  and  round.  In- 
deed, you  may  cheaply  provide  blocks  exhib- 
iting all  the  various  geometrical  figures,  and 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  35 

Size  and  measurement. 

the  child  in  due  time  (for  I  would  force  noth- 
ing) might  learn  the  various  geometrical  names. 
At  his  impressible  age,  it  will  be  as  easy  for 
him  to  fasten  on  his  memory  a  scientific  term 
as  any  other  word,  if  there  is  only  a  real  visi- 
ble object  under  it.  How  easily,  then,  will  he 
learn  whether  any  object  his  sense  falls  on  is 
most  like  a  square,  triangle,  cube,  parallelo- 
gram, sphere,  cone,  pyramid,  or  any  thing  else ! 
I  need  not  here  run  through  the  several  geo- 
metrical figures  and  names.  You  may  easily 
get  a  book  and  look  at  them,  and  the  advan- 
tage to  yourselves  and  children  will  amply  re- 
pay the  trouble. 

SIZE  AND   MEASUREMENT. 

To  proceed  with  qualities:  next  comes  the 
size  of  things.  The  child  soon  perceives  this, 
without  your  telling  him  that  one  object  is 
larger  or  smaller  than  another.  All  he  wants 
from  you  are  words  to  designate  differences  in 
dimension.  Yes,  he  does  want,  or  rather  need 
something  else.  He  needs  training  to  accura- 
cy in  discriminating  the  size  and  bulk  of  differ- 
ent things.     Let  him  then  have,  when  he  shall 


36  THE   CULTURE   OF   THE 

Size  and  measurement. 

be  old  enough,  a  two-foot  rule  such  as  carpen- 
ters use,  or  the  household  yard-stick,  marked 
off  into  feet  and  inches,  and  set  him  to  measur- 
ing objects,  whatever  or  wherever  he  pleases, 
bating  all  harm.  He  can  find  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  floor ;  the  length,  width,  and 
height  of  furniture.  Indeed,  have  him  meas- 
ure the  dimensions  of  any  thing  he  may  put 
his  rule  against  within  or  around  the  house. 
When  he  shall  be  old  enough,  furnish  him  with 
a  ten-foot  pole,  or  a  rope,  or  an  iron  chain  of 
longer  stretch,  and  with  this  set  him  to  find- 
ing the  length  and  breadth  of  a  field,  or  the 
distance  between  your  own  house  and  the  next 
neighbor's,  or  the  school-house,  or  the  church. 
Thus  your  boy  is  becoming  a  surveyor  before 
he  knows  it.  This  procedure  will  not  be  a 
dry  task  to  him,  unless  you  make  it  so ;  it  will 
seem  to  make  a  man  of  him,  and  he  can  not 
but  like  it.  I  see  no  impropriety,  moreover, 
in  a  sister's  taking  a  part  in  such  outdoor, 
healthy,  and  instructive  action.  Certainly  all 
indoor  exercises  in  such  measurements  will  fall 
within  the  proprieties  of  female  life,  and  much 
in  the  uses  of  it.     Why  not  make  a  sort  of 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  37 

Size  and  measurement. 

competition  and  game  of  this  quality  of  size  ? 
Let  a  guess  be  made  as  to  tlie  length,  breadth, 
or  height  of  any  thing,  and  then  see  who  comes 
nearest  to  the  fact  by  the  measure.  Your  boys 
and  girls  will  like  it,  and  so  will  you,  if  you 
have  any  of  your  young  sportiveness  still  left 
in  your  soul. 

But  some  will  inquire  of  what  practical  ad- 
vantage can  this  possibly  be  in  the  future?  It 
is  replied  that  the  active  business  of  almost 
every  one  depends  more  or  less  on  off-hand 
and  immediate  decisions  based  on  a  knowledge 
of  things.  The  farmer  does  not  often  scientif- 
ically survey  the  portion  of  a  field  he  intends 
to  plow  up  for  a  crop.  He  decides  on  the 
quantity  through  his  previous  knowledge  of 
comparative  dimensions.  The  more  accurate- 
ly he  odn  judge  of  lengths  and  breadths,  the 
nearer  will  be  his  work  to  his  wishes.  Often- 
times this  kind  of  judgment  will  come  into  play 
in  respect  to  spaces  and  distances.  Again,  in 
buying  and  selling  loads  of  commodities,  men 
often  guess  at  the  dimensions,  or  judge  by  the 
eye  without  definite  numerical  measurement. 
He,  therefore,  who  shall  have  the  truest  per- 


38  THE   CULTUKE   OF  THE 

Weight. 

ception  of  size  will  have  the  advantage.  In 
the  aflEairs  of  a  household,  moreover,  such  as 
the  cutting  and  repairing  of  garments  and  the 
proportioning  of  quantities  in  cookery,  the  fac- 
ulty of  size  comes  into  most  useful  requisition. 
Why,  therefore,  shall  it  not  be  assiduously  de- 
veloped from  early  life  onward,  to  the  saving 
of  work,  time,  money,  and  comfort  quite  worth 
the  while  ? 

WEIGHT. 

Now  comes  the  quality  of  weight.  In  a 
most  incidental,  unlesson-like,  and  playful  way 
you  can  teach  your  child,  boy  or  girl,  the  dif- 
ference between  one  thing  and  another  as  to 
weight.  Let  him  lift  first  one  object,  then 
another,  so  that  he  may  perceive  the  difference 
in  the  pressure  upon  his  hands.  You  can  tell 
him  that  this  pressure  is  weight,  and  that  one 
thing  weighs  more  than  another.  He  will 
learn,  too,  that  the  difference  in  different  kinds 
of  things  does  not  depend  on  size.  In  due 
time  you  can  show  him  what  it  does  depend 
on.  Provide  some  scales.  These  will  not  cost 
more  than  a  few  cigars,  or  any  other  luxury 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  39 

Color. 

which  you  exhaust  in  the  using,  or  some  little 
piece  of  finery  quickly  worn  out,  but  the  scales 
will  last  for  years,  and  outweigh  their  own 
price  a  thousand  times  over  in  this  educational 
usefulness.  With  these  let  him  weigh  all  the 
various  commodities  proper  to  be  put  into 
them.  Do  not  make  a  task  of  the  matter,  but 
rather  a  pastime  which  you  may  join  in  your- 
selves. In  the  first  place,  let  each  one  present 
take  the  commodity  in  hand,  and  lift  it  up  and 
down,  and  guess  how  much  it  weighs,  or  rather 
try  to  form  an  accurate  judgment  about  it. 
Then  put  it  into  the  scale  and  see  who  comes 
nearest  to  the  fact.  Thus  the  little  company, 
parents  and  children,  not  only  receive  enter- 
tainment, but  gain  knowledge,  and  a  special 
faculty  is  disciplined  for  future  and  valuable 
use  in  the  affairs  of  life.  It  would  be  easy  to 
show  the  special  application  of  this  training  to 
practical  purposes,  as  in  the  case  of  the  other 
faculties  and  qualities.  Thinking  readers  can 
readily  illustrate  for  themselves. 

COLOR. 

There  is  a  special  faculty  likewise  to  observe 


40  THE   CULTUKE   OF  THE 

Color. 

color.  Such  different  properties  of  objects  as 
form  and  weight  must  certainly  require  the 
use  of  a  specific  power ;  so  also  must  color,  for 
this  differs  from  every  other  property  in  na- 
ture. This  faculty  of  color  may  be  disciplined 
to  marvelous  acuteness  and  enjoyment  if  pains 
are  only  taken  with  it.  Of  all  the  appearances 
of  matter,  the  child  earliest  observes  and  de- 
lights in  color.  It  is  the  color  of  the  fire  and 
the  lamp  which  so  early  attracts  the  infant  eye; 
so  of  other  objects  one  after  another.  Bright 
and  dazzling  colors  are  his  joy.  As  his  age 
shall  warrant,  teach  him  the  names  of  the  va- 
rious distinct  colors.  By  the  help  of  a  book, 
if  you  need  one,  you  may  be  somewhat  me- 
thodical in  your  instructions.  You  can  give 
him  the  names  of  the  three  primary  colors,  then 
of  the  secondary,  and  at  length  of  all  the  va- 
rious colors  made  up  from  these,  together  with 
the  many  hues,  tints,  and  tinges  which  have 
names.  Provide  patterns  of  cloth  as  copies, 
and  from  these  let  the  child  get  the  idea  and 
name  of  the  distinctive  colors.  This  will  be  a 
pleasant  matter,  if  you  choose  to  make  it  so. 
You  may  get  up  a  color  game,  as  you  do  with 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  41 

"""  Color. 

the  other  qualities.  Take  any  object  of  an  in- 
determinate color,  and  see  who  will  quickest 
find  the  standard  color  which  it  most  nearly 
resembles.  See  who  shall  name  the  colors, 
hues,  or  tinges  to  the  greatest  number  of  ob- 
jects according  to  some  text-book.  Here  are 
the  things  both  of  art  and  of  nature  innumera- 
ble all  around,  with  colors  of  all  sorts ;  what  a 
source  of  entertainment  and  discipline  for  the 
special  faculty,  if  parents  will  but  think  of  it, 
and  go  at  the  work,  or  rather  the  sport !  The 
training  of  this  faculty  is  of  singular  import- 
ance to  those  who  have  much  to  do  with  dry 
goods,  and  especially  to  ladies,  who  are  the 
principal  purchasers.  I  once  knew  a  farmer's 
wife,  the  mother  of  an  infant  boy  and  of  a  lit- 
tle girl  perhaps  three  years  old  at  the  time  I 
have  in  mind.  She  had  no  help  but  that  of 
her  own  hands  and  of  this  little  bud  of  a  maid. 
Among  other  things,  she  must  make,  mend, 
and  alter  garments.  She  could  not  well  run 
up  stairs  to  a  closet  or  drawer  for  a  piece  of 
cloth  whenever  she  might  want  it,  so  she  had 
all  the  various  fabrics  of  wool,  cotton,  or  silk 
done  up  respectively  in  separate  parcels  by 


42  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

Nature. 

themselves.  Not  only  so,  but,  if  I  recollect 
aright,  she  had  a  subdivision  of  fabrics  accord- 
ing to  color.  So,  when  in  her  work  the  mother 
needed  a  particular  cloth  of  a  particular  color, 
she  sent  the  little  active  and  willing  girl  away 
up  stairs  for  it.  If  she  made  a  mistake  in  the 
selection,  she  had  to  go  back  and  forth  till  she 
got  the  right  little  rolh  The  result  was  that 
the  child  became  exceedingly  discriminating  in 
whatever  belonged  to  cloths  and  their  colors. 
She  at  length  manifested  remarkable  taste  as 
to  the  fitness  and  proprieties  of  dress.  Her 
natural  organization  might  have  been  favora- 
ble to  such  ability.  Nevertheless,  such  an 
early  use  of  the  special  faculty  must  have  en- 
hanced this  prominent  characteristic. 

NATURE. 

In  this  training  to  the  observance  and  en- 
joyment of  color  you  will,  of  course,  not  omit 
the  infinite  variety  in  the  aspects  of  nature. 
With  sunshine  and  cloud,  mountains,  lowlands, 
woods,  waters,  and  other  features  of  nature, 
what  a  range  for  the  eye!  How  it  may  be 
taught  to  fasten  and  feast  on  distinctive  colors, 
and  their  many  lights  and  shades ! 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  43 


FLOWERS. 

Flowers  can  not  possibly  be  omitted,  for 
they  are  among  the  first  things  which  attract 
a  child's  admiring  gaze.  These  will  afford  al- 
most numberless  lessons  in  discriminating  col- 
ors. They  may  not  be  so  practically  useful  as 
the  lessons  on  cloths,  but  the  living  and  won- 
derful beauty  will  make  the  instruction  far 
more  delightful.  What  a  taste  might  be  nur- 
tured, what  pleasure  secured  and  continually 
enhanced  by  a  little  pains !  How  easily  might 
the  delighted  mind  be  carried,  in  due  time,  from 
the  charm  of  the  flowers  into  the  rich  botanic- 
al science  which  lies  in  their  various  charac- 
teristics, and  in  the  leafy  structure  which  they 
adorn ! 

Another  special  subject  of  notice  is  the  va- 
rious colors  and  hues  of  the  different  vegetable 
productions.  What  a  difference  between  one 
kind  of  grain  or  grass  and  another!  What 
changes  of  hue  in  the  same  kind  as  the  growth 
proceeds !  Habituate  your  child  to  watch,  day 
after  day,  as  the  invisible  Painter  varies  the 
tints,  and  tinges,  and  shades.    Direct  his  eye  to 


M  THE   CULTUKE   OF  THE 

Grains. 

all  the  appearances  presented  by  the  vegeta- 
ble realm,  as  there  may  be  cloud  or  sunshine, 
breeze  or  calm.  Thus  training  him  to  observe 
Nature  in  all  her  many  shows,  you  may  fit  him 
for  landscape  painting ;  at  any  rate,  you  will 
prepare  him  better  to  enjoy  the  painter's  work. 
But,  above  all,  you  will  educate  him  to  delight 
in  the  matchless  wonders  of  the  all -perfect 
Hand. 

GRAINS. 

Furthermore,  do  not  let  the  little  learner  go 
without  knowing  one  grain  from  another  as  to 
both  stalk  and  kernel.  It  would  be  well  to 
put  each  kind  of  grain  into  a  little  box  or 
transparent  vial  for  convenient  future  obser- 
vations. It  is  perfectly  wonderful  how  much 
music  or  mathematics,  and  many  other  things, 
are  learned,  or  rather  are  pretended  to  be  learn- 
ed, while  the  commonest  and  most  useful  things 
are  left  out  of  the  catalogue  of  requirements. 
I  once  traveled  in  a  stage-coach  with  a  little 
girl  eleven  years  old,  who  was  going  from  her 
home  to  a  high-priced  fashionable  boarding- 
school  fifty  miles  away  to  be  educated.     The 


OBSERVING   FACULTIES.  45 

Trees. 

schools  close  by  her  father's  door — and  they 
were  quite  good  schools  too — would  not  an- 
swer. I  made  some  inquiries  of  the  child  as 
to  the  particulars  of  her  course  of  instruction. 
Her  studies  seemed  to  me  very  remarkable,  but 
she  knew  so  little  of  them  that  she  could  make 
no  remark  about  them  herself.  We  passed  a 
large  wheat-field,  goldenly  rich  and  beautiful, 
for  it  was  just  before  the  harvest.  I  inquired 
if  she  knew  what  grain  that  was,  and  she  had 
no  more  idea  of  it  than  she  would  have  had  of 
the  vegetation  of  the  tropics  if  she  had  been 
dropped  suddenly  down  into  the  midst  of  it. 
She  was  equally  ignorant  of  a  great  many  oth- 
er striking  object^  and  useful  things  along  the 
road.  Just  so  thousands  of  our  young  ladies 
go  to  school,  spend  money,  tug  at  lessons,  and 
learn  words,  and  yet  hardly  know  what  their 
bread  is  made  of.  At  least  they  know  not 
much  about  industrious  Nature's  primal  and 
indispensable  factory  out  in  the  fields. 

TREES. 

A  word  more  about  another  kind  of  produc- 
tion.    Your  child  learns,  doubtless,  very  early 


46  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

Trees. 

which  is  the  apple,  or  pear,  or  peach,  or  plum 
tree,  and  how  each  looks,  if  such  be  near  by  ; 
and  can  also  tell  the  elms  from  the  maples 
standing,  it  may  be,  at  the  door  or  along  the 
street.  But  it  is  possible,  unless  you  take  some 
little  pains,  and  certainly  if  you  put  him  into 
the  school-prison  early  and  there  keep  him, 
that  he  will  not  advance  much  farther  in  his 
knowledge  of  trees.  Many  a  boy  grows  up 
without  being  able  to  name  the  trees  in  a  neigh- 
boring wood,  and  of  qualities  he  is  much  more 
ignorant  still.  As  to  girls,  the  majority  know 
next  to  nothing  about  these  magnificent  mon- 
archs  of  the  vegetable  kingdom.  They  lift 
themselves  all  alive  out  of  the  ground,  stretch 
out  their  leafy  sceptres,  wear  their  foliaged 
crowns,  and  there  tower,  waiting  to  be  looked 
at,  admired,  and  studied;  and  yet,  with  all  their 
beauty  and  stateliness,  how  little  noticed  they 
are !  Now,  friends,  parents,  let  it  not  be  so  with 
your  children,  whether  sons  or  daughters,  if 
you  would  have  them  truly  educated.  Turn 
their  attention  to  the  difference  in  form  and 
general  appearance  between  one  species  of  tree 
and  another.     They  will  most  readily  learn 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  47 

Leaves. 

the  names.  Show  them  clearly  the  different 
parts  of  the  tree,  and  teach  them  the  words 
designating  each  part.  According  as  the  age 
permits,  you  can  have  much  conversation  with 
them  on  the  philosophy  of  its  growth  and  na- 
ture. I  was  once  walking  on  a  farm  with  the 
owner's  little  boy  five  years  of  age,  and  he 
pointed  out  to  my  unnoticing  sight,  with  a 
keen  eye  and  the  zest  of  a  naturalist,  a  pecul- 
iar characteristic  of  a  great  oak  near  which  we 
passed.  That  father,  I  found,  made  it  a  pas- 
time to  show  his  child  the  things  of  nature, 
and  to  make  explanations  about  them ;  and  I 
am  sure  it  was  a  pastime  to  my  bright  com- 
panion and  instructor. 

But  to  proceed :  take  the  little  learner  into 
the  woods,  and  see  what  new  trees  you  can 
find  there,  and  help  him  to  a  knowledge  of 
these.  If  you  are  ignorant  yourself,  become 
his  fellow-learner. 

LEAVES. 
One  thing  in  particular  might  be  done  to 
improve  the  observing  powers  as  to  minute- 
ness, and  to  prepare  entertainment  for  the  fu- 


48  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

Leaves. 

ture.  The  leaf  of  one  species  of  tree  differs 
from  that  of  another.  Now,  let  the  exact  dif- 
ference be  noticed,  and  at  length  fixed  in  the 
memory.  Let  a  number  of  leaves  be  culled 
from  each  tree,  and  thoroughly  dried  by  press- 
ure in  a  book;  then,  when  all  the  foliage  has 
fallen  under  the  cold,  and  the  inclement  winter 
has  come,  what  fun  and  instruction  too  can  you 
and  your  children  have  with  the  leaves!  You 
can  make  it  a  pleasant  game  to  see  who  shall 
best  tell  the  name  of  the  tree  to  which  each 
kind  of  leaf  belonged.  It  may  take  several 
games  to  associate  some  twenty  or  thirty  of 
these  little  things,  so  variously  shaped  and 
notched,  each  with  the  name  of  its  parent  of 
the  pasture  or  forest.  Then,  when  the  next 
vegetative  season  shall  arrive,  how  sharp  the 
young  eyes  will  be  after  the  different  kinds  of 
trees,  each  with  its  peculiarly-shaped  foliage ! 
The  leaves  of  shrubs,  plants,  grains,  and  grass- 
es might  also  be  prepared  in  the  same  way  for 
the  winter's  amusement  and  instruction.  It 
would  be  a  good  plan,  moreover,  to  provide 
little  pieces  of  all  sorts  of  wood,  letting  a  por- 
tion of  the  bark  remain  as  one  of  the  distinct- 


OBSERVING   FACULTIES.  49 

Minerals. 

ive  marks.  Thus  the  child  and  yourselves, 
companions  as  docile  as  he,  will  learn  the  dif- 
ference between  the  color,  fibre,  and  strength 
of  one  species  of  wood  and  those  qualities  in 
another  species.  He  will  come  to  know  the 
kind  of  wood  from  its  internal  look  as  well  as 
from  its  external,  with  which  he  began.  By 
this  inspection  he  will  be  gradually  acquaint- 
ing himself  with  all  the  various  sorts  of  timber 
which,  in  after  life,  he  may  have  to  do  with  ei- 
ther as  a  manufacturer  or  a  purchaser.  As 
things  have  been,  this  valuable  knowledge  has 
been  left  to  a  life-long  experience  of  mistakes 
and  losses,  mingled  in  with  whatever  successes 
may  have  come. 

MINERALS. 

Still  farther,  you  may  lead  your  young  look- 
er into  the  mineral  kingdom,  and  find  many 
treasures  there  before  saying  any  thing  about 
mineralogy.  You  may,  however,  give  the  term 
if  you  please,  and  he  will  remember  and  like  it 
at  his  age  as  well  as  any  other  word.  You 
may  incidentally  teach  him  many  mineralogic- 
al  terms,  only  be  sure  to  have  them  stand  for 
D 


50  THE   CULTURE  OF  THE 

Minerals. 

visible  and  real  objects.  What  makes  chil- 
dren dislike  these  matters  is  the  taking  the 
life  out  of  them,  if  they  have  any,  by  a  hard 
lesson -task,  without  any  intelligible  explana- 
tion. In  the  first  place,  you  can  easily  have  at 
hand  for  illustration  specimens  of  the  several 
metals  in  common  use,  such  as  iron,  lead,  copper, 
silver,  gold,  and  other  metals,  and  also  their  va- 
rious combinations.  Let  the  differences,  uses, 
and  comparative  values  of  these  substances  be 
shown,  together  with  their  original  locations 
and  conditions  in  the  earth.  How  very  much 
you  might  communicate,  from  time  to  time, 
about  these  minerals,  storing  treasures  in  the 
mind  richer  and  more  lasting  than  the  precious 
metals  themselves  !  Again :  have  your  child 
hunt  for  rocks  which  are  peculiar  for  size, 
shape,  color,  streaks,  spots,  or  mossy  pictures. 
Show  him  the  different  layers  of  earth,  dis- 
closed by  a  cut  through  a  hill  where  a  road 
passes,  or  in  a  river's  bank.  He  has  eyes  as 
well  as  a  farmer  to  notice  how  the  productive 
^  soils  differ  from  each  other,  and  also  from  the 
barren  strata  beneath.  Thus,  from  this  early 
date  onward,  he  will  obtain  that  knowledge  of 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  51 


land  which  is  all-important  to  the  agricultur- 
ist, and  indeed  is  useful  to  any  one  who  culti- 
vates but  a  little  patch  of  a  garden.  You  may 
have  a  game  together  to  see  who  shall  find  the 
greatest  number  of  curious  stones ;  or,  if  you 
are  at  the  water-side,  try  who  shall  be  most 
successful  in  spying  out  beautiful  pebbles. 
This  slight  beginning  in  mineralogical  science 
may  possibly  lead  to  a  zealous  and  thorough 
continuance.  Many  years  ago,  some  crystals 
imbedded  in  a  lump  of  iron  ore  were  pointed 
out  to  a  youth."^  He  was  so  surprised  at  their 
regularity  and  beauty,  "and  with  the  fact  that 
they  had  been  hidden  for  ages  in  that  entirely 
different  and  shapeless  mass  of  matter,  that  his 
eyes  were  afterward  put  on  the  watch  for  sim- 
ilar things.  This  trivial  circumstance  first  gave 
the  start  to  one  of  the  most  distinguished  min- 
eralogists of  our  country  and  the  author  of  val- 
uable treatises  on  the  science.  Now,  if  your 
boy  shall  not  become  eminent,  he  may,  by  your 
aid,  become  a  minute  observer  of  mineral  sub- 
stances. Ever  afterward  his  eye  will  be  sharp- 
er to  detect  them,  and  his  traveling  be  made 
*  The  late  Francis  Alger,  of  Boston. 


52  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

Animals. 

interesting  by  boulders  in  the  pasture,  stones 
by  the  wayside,  or  even  gravel  rattling  be- 
neath his  carriage-wheels  in  the  road. 

It  will  be  well  to  help  your  little  fellow-ram- 
bler to  begin  a  mineralogical  cabinet,  although 
this  may  seem  too  grand  a  phrase  for  the  occa- 
sion. The  rudest  boards,  and  the  lad's  collec- 
tion of  curious  pebbles  or  coarser  stones  to  put 
upon  them,  will  sufiS.ce  to  commence  with,  if 
there  be  nothing  better.  The  very  fact  that 
a  particular  depository  has  been  prepared  for 
such  things  will  induce  effort  to  fill  it  up. 
Great  pleasure,  perhaps  great  usefulness,  may 
grow  in  the  future  from  such  humble  begin- 
ning. Should  it  be  so,  your  son  will  thank 
you  a  thousand  times  for  this  first  setting  out 
in  the  science  which  he  got  from  a  loving  par- 
ent. 

ANIMALS. 

If  the  very  ground  beneath  the  feet  can  be 
made  to  yield  so  much  to  the  early  mind,  how 
much  more  the  living  creatures  which  move 
above  it !  How  delighted  even  infants  are  with 
the  pictures  of  animals !    What  a  marvel,  then. 


OBSERVING   FACULTIES.  53 


are  the  substantial  animate  creatures  them- 
selves! These  move  about,  and  have  a  pur- 
pose in  moving,  as  has  the  child  himself.  They 
do  something,  and  there  is  a  sort  of  wonder 
what  they  will  do  next.  The  household  dog 
and  cat  are  favorites,  and  the  animals  about  the 
yard  and  barn  are  objects  of  interest — all  this 
before  much  instruction  can  be  given.  Nature 
is  getting  the  pupil  ready.  In  due  season,  and 
soon  will  this  come  to  most,  how  much  may  be 
taught  concerning  the  distinctive  natures  and 
habits  of  these  tenants  of  the  homestead !  But 
the  wider  animal  kingdom — curiosity  can  not 
reach  the  end  of  this ;  but  it  can  delightedly 
travel  on  and  on,  if  instruction  will  only  lead 
it  forward  a  little.  The  birds,  which  make  the 
spring  so  gladsome  and  the  summer  fields  and 
groves  so  all  alive,  have  specific  forms,  colors, 
notes,  habits,  histories.  Now  the  boys  and  girls 
might  become  knowing  and  acute  in  these  vari- 
ous matters,  just  as  well  as  so  sharp-eyed  aft- 
er birds'  nests,  as  most  of  them  are.  Indeed, 
young  people  in  the  country,  if  parents  and 
teachers  would  only  look  to  it,  might  make  no 
small  progress  in  ornithology  before  the  cus- 


54  THE  CULTURE  OF  THE 

Insect  curiosities. 

tomary  school-years  should  be  over.  As  for 
the  larger  four-footed  creatures,  there  is  not 
much  chance  at  them,  except  by  happening  on 
a  menagerie  or  a  wilderness.  Some  of  the 
smaller  quadrupeds,  however,  are  within  easy 
reach.  The  nimble,  chirruping  squirrel  has  sev- 
eral habits  of  his  own.  The  opening  curiosity 
would  be  just  as  ready  to  learn  about  these  as 
to  watch  his  freakish  motions.  Even  rat  and 
mouse  might  be  made  something  of  scientific- 
ally. Perhaps,  if  more  truth  were  known  of 
these  skulks,  they  would  seem  very  much  less 
ojffensive.  Even  snakes  and  worms  might  also 
have  a  better  repute  through  pleasant  associa- 
tions. Let  us  save  our  children  from  a  life- 
long disgust,  if  we  can. 

INSECT  CURIOSITIES. 

Another  division  of  the  animal  kingdom 
Spreads  all  around  the  home  in  every  direction 
—that  of  insects.  How  countless  their  species 
and  varieties!  There  is  no  reason  why  the 
young  should  not  be  introduced  into  consid- 
erable acquaintance  with  the  science  of  ento- 
mology, and  this  without  hard  and  dry  study. 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  55 

Insect  curiosities. 

Even  so  long  and  strange  a  scientific  term, 
would  be  no  burden  to  the  fresli  memory,  be- 
cause it  would  mean  something.  What  a  trifle 
would  a  microscope  cost  for  family  use!  so 
that,  when  any  singular  little  creature  should 
be  found,  there  might  be  a  minute  and  wonder- 
ing inspection. 

There  is  a  country  town,  one  of  the  roughest 
in  New  England,  which  was  favored  with  a 
clergyman  who  well  understood  the  true  meth- 
ods of  education.  Among  other  investigations, 
he  devoted  some  of  his  leisure  to  entomology. 
Somehow,  he  inspired  the  people  of  the  whole 
town,  more  or  less,  with  his  spirit,  and  espe- 
cially the  young.  All  eyes  were  opened  and 
sharpened  to  discover  some  new  bug,  or  worm, 
or  butterfly ;  and  happy  was  the  little  boy  or 
girl  who  could  run  with  some  prize  of  the  kind 
to  the  minister,  receive  his  thanks,  and  get  a 
peep  through  his  microscope  at  the  wonders. 
Now,  if  one  man  could  exercise  such  an  influ- 
ence over  a  whole  town  six  miles  square,  what 
might  not  be  expected  of  young  learners,  were 
school-teachers  in  their  separate  districts,  and 
parents  at  the  homestead,  all  to  get  their  ipei^r 


56  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

Fishes  and  shells. 

ceptions  awakened  to  these  variously  constitu- 
ted tribes,  amid  whose  creepings,  flyings,  buzz- 
ings,  and  hummings  they  have  their  own  being 
and  habitation ! 

FISHES  AND  SHELLS. 

Again :  there  are  the  inhabitants  of  the  wa- 
ters. It  is  well  known  how  interesting  the  dis- 
tinguished ichthyologist,  Agassiz,  can  make  a 
lecture  or  an  incidental  talk  about  fishes. 
Whether  older  or  younger  hearers  hang  de- 
lighted on  his  descriptions  of  the  finny  crea- 
tures, hardly  thought  of  before,  except  as  now 
and  then  seen  glancing  within  their  own  glassy 
element,  or  as  presented  by  quite  another  sort 
of  professor  —  the  cook,  it  is  anticipated  that 
the  time  will  come  when  parents  will  be  so 
well  informed  as  to  show  their  children,  in  ta- 
ble conversation,  that  trout,  haddock,  and  shad 
may  afford  mental  as  well  as  bodily  nutriment. 
All  that  is  needed  for  this  purpose  is  a  little 
reading,  observation,  and  a  desire  to  be  instruct- 
ive. 

Some  families  have  on  hand  a  great  variety 
of  shells.    It  would  be  a  pretty  exercise  for  the 


OBSERVING   FACULTIES.  57 

rhenomena  of  nature. 

children,  on  a  winter's  day,  to  sort  out  these 
flowers  of  the  sea  according  to  species,  size,  or 
some  other  rule.  Thus  several  of  the  observ- 
ing faculties  would  be  cultivated,  together  with 
pleasant  occupation. 

PHENOMENA  OF  NATURE. 

We  will  glance  again  at  the  inanimate  world. 
Various  phenomena  and  processes  in  it  may  be 
made  interesting  and  instructive  subjects  for 
sight  and  speech.  Nature  is  passing  through 
changes  and  performing  operations  continually 
all  around.  The  child  observes  many  of  them. 
When  they  first  strike  his  sense  his  curiosity 
is  likely  to  be  aroused,  and  he  may  ask,  "  Why 
is  this  or  that?  what  makes  it  do  so?"  The 
loftier  reflective  faculties  are  now  beginning  to 
operate :  they  want  to  know  the  how,  the  why, 
and  the  wherefore  of  every  thing,  especially  of 
the  changes  and  the  actions  of  things.  The  re- 
flective faculty — the  causality  more  than  any 
other — prompts  to  questions.  In  answer  to 
this,  the  considerate  parent  will  reply  and  in- 
struct ;  but  many  a  thoughtless  or  busy  one  will 
turn  the  child  off,  and  thus  stop  him  from  stud- 


58  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

Phenomena  of  nature. 

ying  lessons  and  receiving  knowledge  from  the 
greatest  and  truest  book  in  the  universe — the 
universe  itself.  Before  long,  in  ordinary  expe- 
rience, the  child  becomes  so  entirely  accustom- 
ed to  these  natural  phenomena  that  he  loses  all 
curiosity  about  them,  and  asks  no  more  ques- 
tions. Thus  millions  live  and  die  in  the  civil- 
ized world,  and  even  in  this  book-blessed  and 
school-favored  land,  utterly  ignorant  of  wonder- 
ful processes  going  on  around  them  all  the 
time ;  whereas,  had  the  earliest  curiosity  been 
kept  up  and  nurtured,  creation  would  have 
been  an  ever-opening  and  yet  untiring  volume. 
I  once  asked  quite  a  large  boy  what  clouds 
were  made  of.  He  replied,  "  Smoke."  He  had 
seen  with  his  own  eyes  thick  smoke  go  up  into 
the  air  from  all  the  chimneys  of  the  neighbor- 
hood, and  what  could  it  possibly  do  there  but 
be  turned  into  clouds  ?  Nobody  had  ever 
pointed  out  to  him  the  grand  round  of  the  va- 
pors from  the  ocean  and  all  the  waters  of  the 
land,  up  through  the  sky,  and  down  to  the 
earth,  the  streams,  and  the  seas  again,  doing  all 
the  world  good  on  the  way.  Yet  that  boy  was 
at  school,  and  might  have  been  great  at  words. 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  59 

Phenomena  of  nature. 

remarkable  before  his  school  committee,  and 
wonderful  to  his  parents. 

I  asked  that  young  girl  in  the  stage-coach, 
before  mentioned,  what  clouds  were,  and  she 
replied,  *^0h!  they  are  great  bags  up  in  the 
sky;  and  now  and  then  holes  get  torn,  and 
down  comes  the  rain."  This  was  all  she  seem- 
ed to  know  about  this  ever-varying  and  mani- 
festly beneficent  part  of  nature.  But  was  she 
not  at  a  grand  boarding-school,  learning  great 
words  in  big  books,  and  at  high  expense  ?  Was 
she  not  getting  a  fashionable  education  ?  What 
more  could  the  world  ask  of  her  ? 

But  it  is  not  boys  and  girls  alone  who  are 
ignorant  of  Nature.  A  large  proportion  of  the 
grown-Tip  do  not  understand  her  most  common 
operations  and  appearances.  There  are  mists, 
clouds,  rain,  hail,  snow,  ice,  dew,  fire,  light,  air ; 
now  how  few  in  all  the  civilized  world  have  a 
philosophical  knowledge  of  these  phenomena ! 
Why  is  it  so  ?  One  answer  may  be  that  they 
were  not  explained  to  the  young.  Their  eyes 
at  length  became  accustomed  to  them,  the  new- 
ness passed  away,  and  curiosity  passed  away 
with  it;  so  a  whole  lifetime  is  spent  in  igno- 


60  THE   OBSERVING  FACULTIES. 

Phenomena  of  nature. 

ranee  of  changes,  combinations,  and  beneficent 
results  in  the  wise  plans  and  works  of  the 
adorable  Creator.  Could  some  such  natural 
phenomenon  take  place  but  once  in  a  hundred 
years,  and  then  be  advertised  as  a  spectacle, 
there  would  be  a  rush  of  eager  multitudes  to 
behold  it,  and  a  most  earnest  listening  to  the 
scientific  explanations.  Ah !  what  minute  proc- 
esses, what  mighty  movements,  what  number- 
less benefits  every  moment !  and  how  millions 
of  the  most  privileged  of  our  race  live  in  the 
midst,  and  see  not,  and  ask  not  how  or  why ! 
Good  parents,  you  are  entreated  not  to  suffer 
your  own  beloved  children  to  grow  up  with 
such  deadened  curiosity  and  contented  igno- 
rance. If  you  have  not  the  requisite  knowl- 
edge already,  become  fellow-learners  with  them. 
A  book  or  two  for  the  purpose  can  be  bought 
for  what  you  would  spend  for  some  transient 
amusement  or  perishable  luxury."^ 

*  The  treatises  here  named  would  be  convenient :  Tate's 
"First  Lessons  in  Philosophy,  or  Science  of  Familiar 
Things;"  Wells's  "Science  of  Common  Things;"  Brewer's 
"Guide  to  the  Scientific  Knowledge  of  Things  Familiar;" 
and  Peterson's  "  Familiar  Science,  or  the  Scientific  expla- 
nation of  Common  Things." 


FARTHER  SUGGESTIONS 


CULTURE  OP  THE  OBSERVING  FACULTIES. 


NOTE. 

The  following  suggestions  pertain  to  a  different  class  of 
qualities — those  which  are  not  inherent  in  substance  itself, 
but  which  are  circumstantial  and  concomitant.  These  also 
are  exceedingly  important  subjects  of  the  observing  faculties, 
and  afford  occasion  for  careful  direction  and  discipline  on 
the  part  of  parents  and  other  teachers.  Those  who  have  an 
earnest  and  conscientious  interest  in  early  and  right  mental 
culture  will  proceed  without  requiring  any  special  invitation. 


FARTHER  SUGGESTIONS. 


PLACE. 

PLACE,  OR  GEOGRAPHY  AT  HOME. 

Place,  or  geography  at  home. 

A  CHILD  may  begin  geography  long  before 
he  goes  to  school,  or,  rather,  he  may  lay  the 
sure  and  proper  foundations  for  this  science. 
When  he  shall  have  been  taught  the  points  of 
the  compass  —  east,  west,  north,  and  south  — 
then  which  side  of  the  room  the  fire  is,  which 
the  table,  and  in  which  direction  are  the  barn 
and  the  garden ;  and  when  he  shall  see  just 
how  the  land  lies  and  looks  close  around  his 
home,  he  has  had  an  introduction  to  geogra- 
phy, or  has,  in  a  small  degree,  been  prepared 
for  an  introduction.  A  beginning  has  been 
made  according  to  the  real  nature  of  things. 
He  understands  what  he  asks  about  and  what 
he  is  told.  All  the  words  have  a  meaning  to 
his  little  mind.     Now  what  you  may  do,  and 


64  THE   CULTURE   OF   THE 

Place,  or  geography  at  home. 

what  he  will  be  glad  of,  is  that  you  carry  him 
on  a  little  farther,  and  still  farther  than  he 
would  go,  clearly  and  certainly,  without  your 
personal  guidance.  You  must  talk  him  along, 
and  walk  him  along,  until  you  have  together 
surveyed  the  neigborhood  all  around,  and  he 
has  obtained  a  positive  knowledge  of  it  —  a 
knowledge  which  he  feels  to  be  his  own,  just 
as  he  feels  that  a  knowledge  of  your  door- 
yard  or  sitting-room  is  his  own.  For  instance, 
you  can  ask  him  in  what  direction  the  street 
runs ;  and,  if  he  has  not  already  found  out, 
tell  him,  and  he  will  soon  know  beyond  forget- 
ting. Have  him  learn  who  lives  in  the  next 
house  to  his  own  home  on  the  right  hand 
and  on  the  left ;  who  in  the  second,  third,  and 
fourth,  and  so  on.  Of  course,  this  could  hardly 
be  done  in  the  brick-blocked,  heterogeneously 
neighbored  but  unneighborly  city.  Children 
at  a  very  early  age  somehow  learn  what  are  a 
road,  a  field,  a  pasture,  a  wood,  a  hill,  and  a 
brook.  Indeed,  they  quickly  become  familiar 
with  most  of  the  prominent  features  of  nature, 
and  the  words  by  which  they  are  designated. 
They  learn  much  by  the  incidental  conversa- 


OBSERVING   FACULTIES.  65 

Place,  or  geography  at  home. 

tion  of  persons  around.  But  you  might,  by  a 
little  pains,  make  your  child  a  more  accurate 
as  well  as  far-reaching  observer  than  he  would 
otherwise  be.  Train  him  to  notice  every  dis- 
tinct object  within  the  scope  of  his  eye ;  all 
the  inequalities  of  the  surface,  all  the  varying 
tints  of  the  vegetation  between  the  first  tender 
green  of  the  spring  and  the  russet  of  the  au- 
tumn. Every  rock,  every  little  hillock  and 
bush,  or  whatever  else  may  make  a  distinctly 
observable  thing,  should  be  a  lesson  to  his  eye. 
Were  these  diminutive  traits  in  the  landscape 
only  magnified,  they  would  be  such  geograph- 
ical features  as  might  be  noticed  in  the  big 
school-book;  yet  the  fact  that  they  seem  but 
insignificant  lines  and  dots,  as  it  were,  does  not 
make  them  ungeographical.  If  geography,  ac- 
cording to  precise  definition,  is  a  description  of 
the  earth,  then,  when  these  diminutive  things 
are  described  by  your  child,  he  makes  real 
geography  out  of  them,  and  it  will  be  unspeak- 
ably more  profitable  than  the  dry,  hard  de- 
scription of  text-books,  as  they  have  generally 
been  forced  upon  poor  little  learners,  or  rather 
word-getters.  If  a  child  be  accustomed  to  such 
E 


66  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

How  not  to  get  lost. 

minute  observation,  he  will  not,  of  course,  over- 
look the  more  prominent  marks  in  a  prospect. 
But,  in  farther  commendation,  even  some  of 
these  minutiae  of  the  land's  surface  are  impor- 
tant indications  to  the  eye  of  science;  and 
would  you  not  be  glad  to  have  your  son  look 
at  nature  with  such  an  eye  ?  Wherever  he 
shall  ramble  or  travel,  would  you  not  have 
him  exercise  a  keen,  detective  sight,  instead  of 
a  vacant  gaze? 

HOW  NOT  TO   GET  LOST. 

The  exact  understanding  of  the  points  of  the 
compass  is  practically  of  no  small  importance. 
Many  persons  most  easily  lose  the  direction 
when  they  find  themselves  in  a  new  place. 
Indeed,  there  are  those  who  are  absolutely  so 
turned  about  that  sunrise  and  sunset  seem  to 
have  exchanged  horizons,  and  it  takes  some 
considerable  looking  round  and  reflection  to 
get  out  of  the  bewildering  dilemma.  Did  all 
roads  run  at  right  angles  toward  east  and 
west,  north  and  south,  and  were  all  houses 
built  square  upon  them,  there  would  be  no 
difficulty.     But,  transversed  and  crooked  in  all 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  67 

How  not  to  get  lost. 

directions  as  roads  and  streets  have  to  be,  the 
points  of  the  compass  are  sometimes  hardly 
found  in  a  whole  lifetime.  Indeed,  there  are 
those  who,  after  a  long  residence  in  Boston, 
scarcely  know  the  direction  in  which  runs  that 
most  familiar  of  all  its  thoroughfares,  Washing- 
ton Street,  or  which  way  exactly  the  grand  and 
far-seen  State-house  faces.  It  seems,  then,  that 
there  might  be  a  real  advantage  in  early  and 
continually  training  the  observation  as  to  the 
points  of  the  compass.  At  home,  it  can  be 
made  a  matter  altogether  incidental,  and  cost 
no  time  which  may  be  better  employed.  Let 
the  cardinal  points  be  well  fixed,  and  it  will 
be  easy  to  fix  in  the  child^s  mind  the  direction 
of  prominent  objects  between,  and  also  the 
course  of  the  streets,  roads,  and  streams. 

In  the  exercise  of  individualizing  objects  be- 
fore mentioned,  as  the  child's  understanding 
shall  advance,  it  will  be  well  to  locate  the  vari- 
ous objects,  in  all  directions,  in  respect  to  the 
points  of  the  compass.  There  might  be  a  little 
emulous  pastime  about  it,  as  was  recommended 
before  in  the  culture  of  the  perceptions.  Why 
should  not  the  parents  be  at  the  pains ^of  pur- 


THE  CULTURE  OF  THE 


How  not  to  get  loat. 


chasing  a  compass  for  this  very  purpose?  It 
would  cost  no  more  than  many  other  things 
usually  provided,  but  which  might  equally  as 
well  be  done  without.  With  this  instrument, 
every  point  of  direction  might  be  exactly  es- 
tablished. Thus  it  would  be  not  only  easy,  but 
pleasant  and  profitable,  for  children  to  be  train- 
ed, as  they  grow  up,  to  know  the  precise  point, 
from  home  as  a  centre,  of  every  farm  and  house 
in  the  town ;  or,  if  in  the  city,  of  every  promi- 
nent object  there.  So  accustomed  would  the 
young  learners  become  to  such  definite  obser- 
vations, that,  as  they  should  travel  out  to  other 
towns  now  and  then,  they  would  quite  readily 
fall  into  these  exercises ;  and  the  turnings  of  a 
road  or  the  windings  of  a  stream,  the  house  on 
a  hill,  the  village  church  spire  in  the  distance, 
might  be  made  an  additional  trial  for  this  sort 
of  judgment.  So  eventually,  wherever  they 
should  travel  through  the  country,  their  heads 
would  not  get  confused,  as  now  so  often  hap- 
pens. At  least  sunrise  and  sunset  would  keep 
their  places,  to  their  eye,  just  as  Nature  really 
puts  them. 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES. 


Judging  of  distances. 


JUDGING  OF  DISTANCES. 
In  this  connection,  it  may  be  well  to  say 
something  more  about  the  measure  of  spaces 
and  distances.  There  is  a  great  deficiency  in 
people's  minds  generally  as  to  accuracy  in  dis- 
tance. One  has  only  to  travel  in  the  country, 
and  inquire  of  various  people  how  far  it  is  from 
one  certain  place  to  another  certain  place,  es- 
pecially if  it  be  as  to  the  way  from  one  town 
to  another,  to  be  convinced  how  vague  are  the 
notions  of  many  persons  in  respect  to  space. 
Why  need  this  be  so,  if  parents,  at  times,  with- 
out interfering  with  any  business,  should  just 
instruct  and  amuse  themselves  and  their  chil- 
dren in  this  matter  ?  If  a  father  and  son  are 
proceeding  to  a  distant  field  to  work,  or  to  any 
field,  why  not  for  once  take  a  ten-foot  pole  or  a 
measuring  chain,  and  find  out  the  exact  dis- 
tance? But  suppose  a  boy  is  going  of  an  er- 
rand to  a  neighbor's,  who  lives,  according  to 
vague  supposition,  a  quarter  or  half  a  mile  off: 
let  him  take  his  pole  or  chain,  and  get  the  ex- 
act measurement,  and  settle  it  for  good  and  all. 
Or,  on  some  leisure  time,  let  the  boys,  if  there 


70  THE  CULTURE   OF  THE 

Education  on  a  hilUtop. 

are  more  than  one,  and  the  father  with  them,  if 
he  pleases,  make  a  little  pastime  of  the  thing. 
This  measuring  entertainment  may  from  time 
to  time  be  extended  to  any  house,  or  any  ob- 
ject, or  through  any  distance  whatever,  accord- 
ing to  convenience.  Thus  a  judgment  about 
distances  will  be  formed,  which  will  come  fre- 
quently into  use  in  subsequent  life. 

EDUCATION  ON  A  HILL-TOP. 

Suppose,  now,  a  pleasant  day,  and  a  little 
leisure  at  command,  to  afford  your  children, 
and  indeed  yourselves  equally,  some  little  en- 
tertainment, perchance  instruction.  You  have 
already  become  acquainted,  perhaps,  with  what- 
ever is  within  view  of  home.  You  have  ob- 
served every  house,  field,  pasture,  wood,  rock, 
shrub,  gleam  of  water.  However,  it  is  not  nec- 
essary to  wait  to  get  all  these  nearest  things  by 
eye  and  heart.  Take  your  little  company  to 
the  highest  hill-top  you  can  conveniently  reach. 
From  this  elevation  can  be  discerned  various 
prominent  objects  in  towns  around.  Give  the 
young  observers  the  names  of  these  localities, 
and  just  the  direction  in  which  they  lie.   There 


OBSERVING   FACULTIES.  71 

Education  on  a  hill-top. 

are  certain  eminences,  each  perhaps  with  a 
name :  tell  them  the  name.  There,  beneath, 
are  the  valleys  also.  Perhaps  it  may  be  known 
that  a  considerable  river  has  its  course  through 
some  of  them,  or  at  least  some  brook  large 
enough  to  turn  the  useful  mill.  Describe  these 
streams,  well  known  to  your  larger  experience, 
which  the  children  can  not  discern  in  their 
sunken  and  shaded  channels.  But  they  can  see 
with  the  naked  eye,  as  well  as  you,  the  many 
varied  features  of  the  landscape  between  the 
centre  where  they  stand  and  the  whole  horizon 
round.  Now  make  a  game  of  it:  see  who  can 
count  the  greatest  number  of  distinct  fields,  or 
pastures,  or  separate  pieces  of  woodland,  and 
the  greatest  number  of  hills.  Indeed,  as  to  this 
feature,  you  may  let  the  eye  descend  to  the  mi- 
nutest prominences  on  the  surface,  and  you  will 
find  that  the  sight  will  become  amazingly  sharp, 
and  pick  up  the  least  little  haycock  of  a  hill  at 
a  distance  which  would  not  have  been  thought 
possible  before.  Then  let  the  vision  hunt  after 
valleys,  and  any  little  dips  and  crinkles  in  the 
land's  surface,  in  the  same  manner.  There  are 
cliffs,  and  rocks,  and  single  trees  standing  in 


72  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

The  use. 

open  land,  and  houses  and  out  •  houses  to  be 
playfully  sought  likewise.  Withal,  take  note 
in  which  direction  exactly  any  road  may  run,  or 
valley  wind,  or  stream  meander ;  at  what  point 
of  the  compass  any  house  or  hill  may  be  situ- 
ated. If  there  be  a  mountain  in  the  distance, 
there  will  be  something  not  only  to  fasten  the 
eye,  but  to  feed  it  with  beauty  or  lift  it  to  gran- 
deur. Depend  upon  it,  my  friends,  that  you 
will  give  your  children  and  yourselves  not  only 
a  most  entertaining,  but  a  very  instructive  ex- 
cursion. The  visit  to  the  spot  may  be  repeat- 
ed several  times  before  all  the  objects  of  the 
expanse  shall  fall  beneath  inspection,  or  the  les- 
son or  the  pleasure  be  exhausted.  By-and-by 
you  will  climb,  with  your  little  company  of  ob- 
servers, some  loftier  hill  or  the  mountain-top, 
and,  from  such  a  height,  advance  your  knowl- 
edge, possibly,  to  distant  states. 

THE   USE. 

Now  let  us  consider  the  practical  advantage 
of  this  actual  observation  of  the  earth's  surface, 
and  the  various  objects,  natural  or  artificial, 
thereon  presented.     In  the  first  place,  it  is  evi- 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  73 

The  use. 

dent  to  all  that  the  examination  of  any  mate- 
rial thing  by  the  naked  faculties  is  better,  for 
all  possible  purposes,  than  the  reading  or  stud- 
ying of  a  description  of  it.  It  is  safer,  certain- 
ly, to  see  a  farm  with  one's  own  eyes  before 
purchasing  it,  than  to  trust  to  any  written  de- 
scription. The  general  who  has  actually  in- 
spected the  ground  on  which  he  is  to  make  a 
campaign  is  far  better  prepared  for  its  emer- 
gencies than  if  he  knew  the  field  of  operations 
only  as  presented  by  the  map.  The  same  may 
be  said  of  every  practical  concern.  The  mind 
m^ist  be  prepared  to  comprehend  clearly  what 
is  distant,  and  what  can  not  be  come  at  through 
the  naked  senses,  by  a  thorough  inspection  of 
similar  things  within  their  reach. 

These  intellectual  facts  have  scarcely  been 
thought  of  by  the  generality  of  parents  and 
teachers  in  this  time-consuming,  and,  we  may 
say,  heart-burdening  matter  of  education.  Now 
what  do  children,  for  the  most  part,  see  when 
they  cast  their  eyes  upon  a  map  ?  Nothing  but 
a  plain  surface  of  paper,  with  black  lines  crook- 
ing here  and  there,  called  roads  and  rivers,  and 
little  dots  having  the  names  of  towns  and  cit- 


74  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

Where  and  how  arithmetic  should  begin. 

ies,  with  blotches  standing  for  mountains ;  and 
this  is  just  about  all.  The  brute  animals  would 
take  into  notice  almost  as  much.  But  with  this 
actual  training  of  the  observing  powers,  as  has 
been  recommended,  there  would  appear  right 
on  the  map,  as  it  were,  in  definite  forms  and 
colors,  seen  by  the  vivid  imagination,  real  hills, 
valleys,  streams,  roads,  every  thing  just  as  the 
map  was  intended  to  represent  them.  That 
plain  paper  surface  would  seem  moulded  into 
all  the  various  features  and  appearances  of  na- 
ture by  that  mind's  eye  which  had  been  study- 
ing the  real  earth  in  these  pleasant  family  ex- 
cursions. Thus  geographical  language  would 
be  all  filled  and  made  rich  with  real  science — 
the  earth's  facts.  Pray  try  the  experiment, 
and  see. 


NUMBER. 

WHERE  AND  HOW  ARITHMETIC  SHOULD  BEGIN. 

An  early  intellectual  exercise,  as  has  been 
before  mentioned,  is  that  of  individualizing  ob- 
jects; the  considering  of  any  separable  portion 


OBSERVINa  FACULTIES.  75 

Where  and  how  arithmetic  should  begin. 

of  matter  by  itself.  This  idea  of  distinct  things, 
of  individualities,  is  one  of  the  primitive  foun- 
dations of  all  knowledge ;  and  the  idea,  there- 
fore, is  among  the  earliest  introduced  into  the 
mind.  The  exercise  of  individuality  affords 
the  first  occasion  for  the  action  of  another  fac- 
ulty, that  of  number.  This,  of  course,  must 
wait  till  words  can  be  acquired  and  be  applied 
to  things.  Quite  an  advance  is  usually  made 
in  a  knowledge  of  things  and  their  names  be- 
fore the  idea  of  number  is  distinctly  appre- 
hended, and  its  appropriate  terms  intelligibly 
used.  Counting,  however,  is  an  exercise  which 
children  very  early  perform.  Friends  put  them 
to  it  in  some  playful  mood,  or  to  divert  them 
from  a  trifling  grief.  They  are  asked,  perhaps, 
how  many  thumbs  they  have,  or  how  many 
fingers.  In  this  way,  or  in  some  other  as  in- 
cidental, that  science  begins  which  reaches  up 
into  the  sublimest  mathematics.  It  does  not 
take  long  to  get  through  thumbs  and  fingers, 
and  to  the  first  and  all  -  important  waymark, 
ten  in  the  numerical  progress.  So  far,  each 
term  has  a  thing  to  which  it  is  applied  —  a 
thing  to  be  seen  and  felt ;  but  beyond  this,  the 


76  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

Where  and  how  arithmetic  should  begin. 

majority  of  children,  accordiog  to  observatioi], 
are  taught  to  use  the  terms  abstractly,  to  utter 
them  without  any  reference  to  individual  and 
observable  objects.  There  are,  no  doubt,  par- 
ents who,  in  teaching  the  child,  are  wise  enough 
to  apply,  in  a  much  greater  extent,  the  numer- 
als to  substantial  things.  Sometimes  children 
themselves,  without  any  hint  from  others,  will 
make  the  application.  Nevertheless,  the  ma- 
jority, I  think,  in  their  first  acquisition  of  nu- 
merical terms,  are  taught  the  words  without 
things,  in  the  same  manner  as  much  of  other 
education  is  conducted.  Now  this  need  not 
be  so ;  it  ought  not  to  be,  inasmuch  as  individ- 
ual things  are  all  around,  from  one  up  to  hund- 
reds, thousands,  and  millions;  and  for  every 
numerical  term  there  may  be  a  positive  object 
on  which  to  place  the  eye.  Thus  the  little 
learner  would  clearly  apprehend  that  counting 
is  not  merely  putting  one  new  word  after  an- 
other, but  is  adding  thing  to  things,  object  to 
objects,  one  after  another;  it  is  making  an  in- 
crease of  quantities  under  the  notice  and  evi- 
dence of  his  own  immediate  senses.  In  count- 
ing, for  instance,  articles  of  furniture  in  the 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  77 

The  counting  game. 

room,  steps  in  the  stairway,  or  doors  and  win- 
dows in  the  house,  the  newly -started  arithmet- 
ical faculty  has  something  real  and  firm  to  run 
along  on,  as  the  earlier  used  perceptive  powers 
have. 

In  the  object  game,  recommended  in  a  pre- 
vious section,  there  is  an  excellent  opportunity 
at  number ;  for  the  game  may  be  not  only  to 
see  who  shall  be  quickest  to  find  objects  one 
after  another,  or  who  shall  come  to  the  very 
last  thing  possible  to  be  found,  but  also  who 
shall  come  to  the  largest  number  including 
these  objects — who  shall  count  the  highest  in 
the  game.  Besides  things  in  the  house,  those 
abroad  are  sufficient  for  infinite  counting,  or 
until  the  mind  even  of  the  adult  might  get  ut- 
terly tired  and  confused  in  its  simple  and 
straight-onward  task. 

THE   COUNTING  GAME. 

It  is  a  good  plan  to  train  children  to  observe 
the  proportions  between  the  number  and  the 
bulk  of  things.  For  instance,  it  will  take  about 
so  many  apples,  or  any  other  kind  of  fruit,  con- 
sidering size,  to  fill  a  certain  measure.    Let 


78  THE   CULTUEE   OF  THE 

The  counting  game. 

the  precise  number  be  ascertained.  Make' a 
pleasant  thing  of  the  matter,  and  see  who  shall 
come  nearest  to  the  fact  in  a  guess  about  the 
measure  of  fruit  from  the  tree,  or  of  potatoes, 
or  turnips,  or  any  other  production  from  the 
ground.  Though  you  make  a  pastime  of  your 
guessing  and  counting,  the  judgment  thus  edu- 
cated will  be  a  circumstance  of  positive  prac- 
tical gain  in  those  affairs  where  gain  or  loss 
depends  on  accuracy  of  judgment. 

This  counting  sport  might  be  carried  on  in 
many  ways,  and  to  an  indefinite  extent,  among 
brothers  and  sisters,  enlivening  the  home.  But 
the  parents,  especially  the  father,  might  well, 
in  the  evening's  leisure,  take  a  part  in  these 
numerical  operations.  Agricultural  life  aflEbrds 
a  great  variety  of  instances  for  this  kind  of 
mental  action.  Indeed,  in  any  sort  of  civilized 
life,  there  must  be  purchases  of  farm  products, 
and  numerous  opportunities  for  maturing  the 
judgment  about  numbers,  quantities,  bulk,  and, 
we  may  add,  cost.  There  is  scarcely  a  family 
which  does  not  suffer  more  or  less  detriment 
in  consequence  of  poor  judgment  about  com- 
modities bought  and  money  paid.     Certainl}^ 


OBSERVINa  FACULTIES.  79 

An  economical  idea. 

the  needed  ability  can  not  be  bad  except  by 
experience,  and  this  experience  might  as  well 
begin  as  soon  as  nature  gets  ready  for  it,  as  to 
be  deferred  to  a  later  period,  when  immediate 
occasion  shall  require. 

AN  ECONOMICAL  IDEA. 

One  particular  application  of  the  numerical 
faculty  is  very  easy  and  of  practical  impor- 
tance, and  must,  therefore,  be  interesting  to  the 
young  learner.  Various  things  of  household 
use  are  in  sets,  consisting  of  a  definite  number. 
For  instance,  so  many  chairs  belong  to  a  room, 
or  there  is  a  particular  number  in  a  set  of 
crockery,  or  knives  and  forks,  and  of  spoons. 
The  child  will  most  easily  count  these,  and 
hold  the  number  in  memory.  This  is  a  matter 
of  practical  use;  for,  unless  the  number  of 
these  things  is  kept  in  mind,  there  may  be  an 
unheeded  loss.  It  will  be  really  a  strengthen- 
ing of  the  character,  and  a  positive  preparation 
for  carefulness  in  the  future,  to  give  a  daugh- 
ter quite  early  a  specific  charge  over  these 
more  losable  implements.  There  are  also  oth- 
er sets  of  things,  the  number  of  which  might 


80  THE   CULTUKE   OF   THE 

An  economical  idea. 

be  obtained  and  held  with  advantage,  such  as 
napkins,  towels,  pillow-cases,  sheets,  and  per- 
haps other  kinds  of  furniture.  By  this  appli- 
cation of  the  enumerative  ability,  you  might 
early  enlist  a  daughter's  special  interest  in  your 
goods  and  their  safety.  In  this  connection, 
moreover,  she  might  be  easily  led  to  consider 
it  her  duty  to  keep  them  all  in  their  proper 
places,  in  their  proper  order,  and  with  all  desir- 
able nicety.  This  care  will  be  a  relief  to  your- 
self, mother,  and  a  profitable  discipline  to  her. 

There  is  no  reason  why  a  boy  also  might 
not  be  trained  in  this  numerical  knowledge  as 
to  household  matters.  Of  course,  he  is  ade- 
quate to  it  equally  with  a  sister ;  and,  together 
with  her,  he  is  more  particularly  under  the 
maternal  care  in  his  earlier  years.  It  is  alto- 
gether proper,  and  it  will  be  beneficial  for  him, 
to  learn  whatever  he  may  in  company  and  in 
sympathy  with  sisters.  All  indoor  knowledge, 
however  minute,  will  the  better  qualify  him 
for  manhood  and  a  new  home  of  his  own. 
Every  man  should  have  at  least  a  general 
knowledge  of  his  own  household  affairs,  how- 
ever perfect  the  wife  may  be  in  her  adminis- 


OBSERVING   FACULTIES.  81 

Outdoors. 

tration.  Now,  inasmuch  as  a  boy's  home  edu- 
cation ordinarily  continues  for  some  years,  it 
would  be  altogether  easy  for  him  to  become 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  matters  belonging 
to  the  domestic  domain.  It  could  not  but  be, 
in  most  cases,  altogether  pleasant  also,  as  long 
as  he  is  privileged  with  such  affectionate  com- 
panionship. 

OUTDOORS. 

There  are,  however,  outdoor  concerns  in 
which  a  boy  can  exercise  numerical  accuracy 
and  care  about  sets  and  classes  of  things.  Let 
him  count  the  fowls  on  the  premises,  get  the 
precise  number  in  each  flock  of  a  species,  and 
have  an  eye  that  none  are  missing.  So  also 
let  him  know  and  keep  in  mind  the  exact 
number  of  cows,  sheep,  and  their  young,  or 
whatever  else  of  the  domestic  animal  kind  may 
pertain  to  the  homestead.  A  sister  also  might 
very  properly  accompany  him  in  sympathy 
and  care ;  for  thus  her  mind  would  be  expand- 
ed, and,  without  any  undue  straining  or  task- 
work, would  easily  and  agreeably  acquire  an 
initiation  into  that  outdoor  knowledge  which 
F 


82  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

Ownership. 

the  future  wife  eventually  might  wish  to  have 
in  the  possessions,  plans,  and  operations  of  her 
husband. 

Some  may  smile  at  this  reference  to  proba- 
ble domestic  life;  but  just  as  surely  as  early 
habits  of  any  kind  will  influence  the  remote 
future  for  good  or  for  evil,  so  surely  will  this 
sort  of  knowledge  and  carefulness  affect  the 
future  economical  character  of  the  woman. 

OWNERSHIP. 

In  this  counting  of  furniture  sets  and  of 
flocks  and  herds,  a  child's  interest  must  natu- 
rally be  quickened  by  the  circumstance  that 
they  belong  to  parents,  and  have  a  certain  use. 
This  matter  of  ownership  will  draw  the  little 
heart  toward  them.  It  would  be  quite  a  dif- 
ferent affair  to  put  the  numeric  faculty  to  work 
on  stones  in  the  public  road,  or  pebbles  along 
a  water-shore.  Let  it  be  especially  considered 
that  the  idea  of  possession  and  "utility  will  be 
of  no  small  importance  to  the  incipient  arith- 
metician. In  continuing,  therefore,  this  sort  of 
discipline  indefinitely  onward,  let  the  exercise 
be  as  much  as  possible  on  objects  of  property. 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES. 


Ownership. 


Let  there  be  a  sort  of  game  to  see  who  can  rec- 
ollect the  largest  number  of  articles,  or  sorts  of 
useful  things,  belonging  to  the  house  or  the 
premises  around,  as  they  would  not  all  be  in 
immediate  sight. 

In  this  thorough  enumeration  of  goods  there 
is  one  practical  advantage  which  is  certainly  of 
no  small  importance.  It  occasions  the  young 
learner  to  become  acquainted  in  detail  with  the 
various  commodities,  and  objects  of  possession, 
within  and  around  the  home.  Young  persons 
generally  have  but  a  vague  and  imperfect 
knowledge  of  these,  things.  By  this  exercise 
they  will  get  in  mind  an  inventory  of  property 
almost  as  if  they  were  making  an  appraisal. 
They  will  acquire  a  habit  of  exactness  as  to 
what  is  possessed.  Besides,  there  will  come  in- 
directly some  notion  of  the  specific  uses  of 
things:  this  will  be  an  additional  advantage. 
How  many  people  have  a  very  confused  idea 
of  their  own  possessions !  The  confusion  reach- 
es and  continues  into  their  daily  affairs  with  a 
quite  injurious  effect.  Now,  could  an  accurate 
apprehension  as  to  these  matters  of  property  be 
.made  a  habit  of  the  mind  from  very  childhood, 


84  THE  CULTURE   OF  THE 

Ownership. 

it  would  influence  a  whole  business  life.  It 
would  certainly  be  of  no  small  importance  in 
conducting  the  concerns  of  a  store,  especially 
one  containing  all  sorts  of  goods,  as  is  more 
generally  the  case  in  the  country. 

It  may  be  objected  to  the  plan  of  giving  chil- 
dren this  special  idea  of  property  and  owner- 
ship that  it  will  make  them  think  too  much  of 
material  possessions,  and  strengthen  their  affec- 
tion for  these  things  to  a  degree  which  in  aft- 
er life  might  be  detrimental  to  the  character. 
Such  a  consequence  would  greatly  depend  on 
the  native  mental  constitution.  No  doubt  some 
children  have  the  love  of  gain  so  born  with 
them,  that,  without  counter  influences,  these  ex- 
ercises would  really  intensify  the  inherited  av- 
arice. But  there  is  to  be  a  moral  and  relig- 
ious education ;  and  if  parents  are  as  faithful  in 
this  as  in  the  discipline  pertaining  to  material 
things,  any  such  tendency  will,  in  general,  be 
quite  sufficiently  counteracted.  Let  it  be  un- 
derstood by  readers,  once  for  all,  that  in  the 
present  treatise  there  is  intended  no  such  neg- 
lect of  the  higher  nature  as  will  leave  the  lower 
unrestrained,  or  in  the  least  degree  unbalanced. 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  85 

Counting  on  indefinitely. 

COUNTING  ON   INDEFINITELY. 

After  the  class  of  things  above  referred  to 
shall  all  have  been  gone  over,  the  exercise  may 
be  continued  on  objects  which  excite  no  inter- 
est, except  that  they  are  to  be  enumerated  one 
after  another,  each  adding  to  the  sum.  With 
the  start  the  young  numberer  gets  in  the  way 
suggested,  he  will  now  be  able  to  count  to  al- 
most any  extent.  Let  him  push  ahead  on  any 
thing  coming  handiest. 

Outdoors  there  are,  for  lessons,  trees  in  the 
woods,  and  stones  in-  the  walls.  In  counting 
the  trees,  it  may  be  worth  while  to  remark, 
there  will  incidentally  arise  some  knowledge  of 
species  and  their  uses.  There  must  necessarily 
be  caught  some  glimpses  of  dendrology,  to  use 
a  scientific  term,  which,  as  long  and  hard  as  it 
seems,  a  child  would  remember  as  well  as  any 
other  word.  Indeed,  in  touching  and  individu- 
alizing the  stones  in  a  wall,  as  he  should  trip 
alongside,  what  curious  varieties  he  might  dis- 
cover !  and  thus  the  diverse  riches  of  mineral- 
ogy would  now  begin  to  open  on  him,  if  not 
before.    Within  doors  the  learner  may  sit  at 


86  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

Counting  on  indefinitely. 

ease ;  and  with  a  measure  of  corn,  beans,  or 
peas,  or  the  smaller  grains,  he  may  count  on 
for  hours,  if  he  shall  choose,  and  renew  the  op- 
eration day  after  day.  And  why  should  he 
not,  if  there  be  time  and  inducement  ?  He  may 
as  well  do  this  at  home  as  many  other  quite 
idle  things,  or  something  at  school  called  "  ed- 
ucation," but  which  amounts  to  nothing  at  all 
toward  such  end.  Every  grain  he  touches  is 
an  individual  object ;  it  is  a  unit ;  it  is  as  dis- 
tinct and  observable  as  if  it  were  a  mountain ; 
it  goes  to  make  up  a  sum  which  is  denominated 
a  thousand  or  a  million.  Now  just  let  a  child, 
of  adequate  age  and  ability,  enumerate  palpa- 
ble, individual  substances  in  this  way,  and  he 
will  proceed,  not  vaguely  and  confusedly,  but 
clearly,  definitely,  and  with  a  perfect  intelli- 
gence, to  almost  any  amount  of  numbers,  piled 
up,  in  idea,  one  upon  another.  Then,  when  he 
shall  come  to  the  examples  of  the  text-books  at 
school,  what  otherwise  would  be  empty  abstrac- 
tions will  to  imagination  cover  and  contain,  as 
it  were,  like  clothing,  substantial  and  definite 
forms. ,  He  will  have  a  distinct  idea  of  numer- 
ical quantities,  such  as  will  be  of  invaluable 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  87 

Power  of  concentration  and  of  individuality  improved. 

service  in  the  higher  mathematical  regions, 
where,  as  things  have  been,  learners  too  often 
grope  in  a  dark  and  cold  misty  expanse. 

POWER  OF  CONCENTRATION  AND   OF  INDIVID- 
UALITY  IMPROVED. 

Still  Other  benefits  from  our  enumerative  ex- 
ercise may  be  adduced.  It  afifords  opportunity 
for  concentrating  attention.  It  would  have  the 
effect  to  bring  a  naturally  unsteady  and  wan- 
dering mind  to  act  for  a  time  continuously  in 
a  specific  direction.  This  is  no  small  matter  in 
education,  and  also  in-the  practical  affairs  of  life. 

Again :  the  act  of  counting  one  by  one  nec- 
essarily develops,  more  or  less,  the  individual- 
izing faculty.  An  object  must  be  apprehended 
as  a  distinct  unit:  it  is  individualized.  Per- 
haps, indeed,  this  is  the  best  method  possible 
of  developing  the  central  and  leading  perceptive 
power.  The  occasion  would  be  of  special  im- 
portance to  a  child  whose  individuality  might 
be  naturally  weak,  as  is  often  the  case.  Such 
a  person,  in  passing  along  a  village  street,  would 
have  a  vague  idea  of  houses,  and  this  would  be 
all ;  but  if  he  was  set  to  counting  the  houses, 


88  THE  CULTURE  OF  THE 

Power  of  concentration  and  of  individuality  improved. 

each  one  would  come,  at  least  momentarily,  into 
distinct  notice,  and  in  some  degree,  also,  its 
concomitant  circumstances.  Or,  supposing  you 
take  such  a  child  to  a  store,  you  might  suggest 
to  him  to  count,  while  you  are  doing  an  errand, 
all  the  kinds  of  things  he  might  see  on  the 
counter,  shelves,  or  any  where  else,  without  be- 
ing obtrusive  beyond  propriety.  Then,  after- 
ward, let  him  give  you  his  account,  and  you 
will  find  that  his  store-visit  has  been  quite  an 
instructive  occasion.  Still  farther,  the  subor- 
dinate observing  faculties  would  be  called  into 
exercise  more  or  less  in  connection  with  indi- 
viduality. Of  course,  as  each  object  is  enu- 
merated and  noticed,  its  form,  size,  color,  place, 
etc.,  would  be  also  in  some  degree  observed. 
Thus  we  perceive  how  a  simple  operation,  which 
at  home  is  carried  scarcely  beyond  thumbs  and 
fingers  except  in  abstract  words,  and  whicKis 
pursued  at  school  probably  never  beyond  the 
numerical  balls,  may  be  made  the  means  of 
large,  various,  and  most  profitable  discipline. 

It  is  hoped  that  enough  has  been  said  to 
show  clearly  that  simple  counting  is  no  unim- 
portant item  in  intellectual  discipline.     Let  it 


OBSEKVING  FACULTIES.  89 

Business  arithmetic. 

not,  then,  be  neglected  because  it  is  not  in- 
cluded, to  the  extent  indicated,  in  the  custom- 
ary educational  programme,  or  because  there 
is  no  precedent  for  it  in  ordinary  experience. 

BUSINESS  AKITHMETIC. 

In  the  young  learner's  first  arithmetical  ex- 
ercise, enumeration,  the  importance  of  having 
things  to  accompany  words  must  be  most  evi- 
dent to  the  reader.  But,  furthermore,  the  same 
will  hold  true  of  other  numerical  operations. 
The  purpose  of  the  ordinary  arithmetical  edu- 
cation is  to  prepare  the  student  for  the  busi- 
ness of  adult  life.  The  more,  therefore,  that 
numbers  and  figures  directly  pertain  to  real 
substances  and  to  actual  transactions,  the  more 
immediate  and  practical  will  be  their  bearing 
on  future  exigencies.  Could  exercises  in  addi- 
tion, subtraction,  multiplication,  division,  etc., 
directly  concern  commodities,  and  could  they, 
moreover,  be  performed  right  in  the  midst  of 
things,  there  would  be  a  reality  and  an  inter- 
est which  could  not  be  felt  at  the  distance  of 
the  school,  and  especially  in  such  abstract  ex- 
amples as  generally  make  the  lessons  of  the 


90  THE  CULTUEE  OF  THE 

Business  arithmetic. 

book.  It  is  a  common  remark  with  business- 
men that  they  did  not  understand  arithmetic, 
after  all  the  time  spent  on  it  at  school,  till  they 
had  occasion  to  use  it  in  their  own  actual  af- 
fairs. The  reason  of  this  is  very  plain.  In 
their  business  there  are  certain  material  sub- 
stances. If  these  are  not  at  the  moment  with- 
in sight,  they  are  before  the  mind's  eye :  the 
numerical  relations  of  these  things  are,  there- 
fore, more  distinctly  apprehended.  There  is  no 
blur  of  abstraction  about  them.  A  calculation 
must  be  made,  and  this  with  perfect  accuracy : 
no  guesswork  can  be  allowed  here.  Hence 
there  is  a  real  and  pressing  demand  on  the 
science  of  number.  The  interests,  the  feelings, 
and  the  arithmetical  operation  all  tend  together 
toward  one  end.  Something  of  immediate  and 
practical  importance  is  to  be  accomplished. 
No  wonder,  then,  that  men  who  have  quite 
forgotten  their  school-book  rules  should  now 
invent  rules  of  their  own,  and,  as  is  sometimes 
the  case,  even  make  short  cross-cuts  to  accurate 
and  provable  conclusions.  Such  is  the  testi- 
mony of  practical  experience. 

Now,  could  instruction  be  transferred  to  the 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  91 

Family  ciphering. 

Store,  the  mechanic's  shop,  or  the  farm,  there  is 
no  doubt  that  arithmetic  would  be  understood 
and  appreciated  to  a  degree  which  can  not 
possibly  be  realized  at  the  school-room,  as  the 
science  is  there  more  generally  communicated. 
The  intellect  may  be,  to  some  degree,  disci- 
plined by  the  abstract  lessons  there :  they  are 
better  than  nothing.  This  discipline,  however, 
falls  far  short  of  what  would  come  from  the 
demands  of  actual  business. 

FAMILY  CIPHERING. 

But  the  school  must  remain  in  its  one  as- 
signed location.  Its  exercises  are  likely  to 
continue  for  some  considerable  time  as  before 
— abstract  and  unreal ;  for  it  takes  a  long  while 
to  improve  text-books,  and,  we  may  add,  to  im- 
prove some  of  the  teachers  who  superintend 
their  use.  Now,  parents,  must  your  children 
be  limited  to  school-book  examples?  Must 
they  remain  with  this  hazy,  half-  way  knowl- 
edge of  arithmetic,  until  they  also  shall  come 
into  the  actual  business  of  adult  life,  or  at  least 
that  of  apprenticeship  ?  By  no  means,  if  you 
will  only  take  a  little  pains  yourselves.     You 


92  THE   CULTURE  OF  THE 

Family  ciphering. 

have  had  your  own  school-days,  and  have  gone 
through  the  abstractions  as  your  children  are 
doing  now,  and  probably  with  no  more  profit. 
But,  since  then,  you  have  been  putting  these 
dimly -apprehended  abstractions  to  concrete 
and  positive  use.  Perhaps  you  have  been  in- 
venting rules  and  methods  of  your  own.  At 
any  rate,  you  can  apply  number  and  figure  to 
visible  and  palpable  commodities,  to  all  the  in- 
tents and  purposes  of  livelihood  and  accumula- 
tion. Now  it  is  just  such  an  application  which 
your  own  children  need  at  this  very  moment, 
and  which  most  probably  they  can  not  have, 
except  in  an  imperfect  degree,  at  school.  Why, 
then,  shall  they  not  have  it  at'home,  and  under 
the  instruction  of  those  whom  they  naturally 
love  better  than  any  one  outside  the  family  cir- 
cle ?  All  you  have  to  do  is  to  sit  down  among 
them  in  the  leisure  evening,  and  present  the 
examples  of  your  own  business,  just  such  as 
you  have  worked  out  in  your  own  head,  or  on 
slate  or  paper,  at  your  need.  If  you  have  been 
long  in  life,  your  memory  must  abound  in  in- 
stances, or  you  can  invent  numerous  examples 
similar  to  what  really  occur.    Depend  upon  it, 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  93 

Family  ciphering. 

arithmetic  will  put  on  a  new  aspect  to  the  learn- 
ers, all  the  brighter  and  all  the  more  pleasant 
because  it  shines  out  from  a  light  reflected  by 
the  most  beloved  and  trusted  friends.  If  you 
have  not  been  called  by  your  own  affairs  to 
make  much  use  of  numbers,  and  if  your  own 
school  abstractions  —  figure -shadows,  as  they 
may  be  called  —  have  been  quite  forgotten — 
have  fallen  even  from  shadows  into  absolute 
nothingness,  then  you  can  become  a  fellow- 
learner  with  your  children.  With  this  fresh 
school -knowledge,  such  as  it  is,  they  can  per- 
haps instruct  you,  or  at  least  be  the  occasion 
of  your  learning.  You  can,  at  least,  mutually 
assist  each  other  in  real,  lifelike  performances 
in  calculation.  Your  larger  general  experience 
and  maturer  judgment  will,  of  course,  take  a 
respected  lead.  Home  is  the  proper  place  for 
children  in  the  evening ;  but  then  there  must 
be  work  or  study,  or  some  sort  of  entertain- 
ment to  make  home  agreeable  and  worth  stay- 
ing in,  preferably  to  any  outside  allurements. 
Suppose,  now,  for  instance,  you  try,  among  oth- 
er things,  this  arithmetical  experiment,  and  see 
if  it  does  not,  as  the  saying  is,  come  to  some- 
thing. 


94  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

Explanation. 

EXPLANATION. 

By  what  has  been  said,  let  it  not  be  inferred 
that  any  objection  is  intended  to  the  more  ab- 
stract exercises  in  numbers,  in  due  process  of 
an  advanced  education.  This  right  beginning 
indicates  really  no  hinderance  to  an  ascent  into 
the  veriest  sublime  of  mathematics.  Indeed, 
the  best  assurance  for  the  profoundest  attain- 
ments in  this  science  must  be  thoroughly  dis- 
tinct ideas  of  material  objects  in  their  numer- 
ical relations  at  the  outset. 

In  conclusion,  let  me  say  that  I  have  dwelt 
to  such  extent  on  this  topic,  because  that,  in 
the  arithmetical  branch  of  education,  as  in  al- 
most every  other,  time,  pains,  and  money  are 
spent  out  of  all  proportion  to  profitable  results. 
Boys  and  girls,  instead  of  going  straight  on, 
step  after  step,  in  clear  light  and  on  a  palpable 
path,  learning  the  world  and  its  things  as  they 
really  are,  wander,  or  rather,  perhaps,  are  driv- 
en, over  ground  without  any  certain  foothold 
— a  sort  of  ghost-land.  They  are  set  to  peer 
after  and  strike  at  flitting  images,  and  not  to 
lay  hold  on  substantial  knowledge,  which  stops 
and  stays  in  the  hand. 


OBSERVING   FACULTIES.  95 


The  power  of  eventuality. 


ACTION. 

THE  POWER  OF  EVENTUALITY. 

It  is  one  of  the  earliest  perceptive  functions 
to  observe  action,  to  see  what  things  do,  to 
watch  curiously  for  what  shall  be  done  next. 
No  matter  what  it  is  that  acts  or  simply  moves; 
the  little  eyes  are  intent.  It  may  be  the  flit- 
ting of  a  feather  or  the  flutter  of  a  leaf.  If  the 
object  is  a  living  one,  like  the  kitten,  the  dog, 
the  horse,  or  a  bird,  how  delightedly  the  vary- 
ing movements  are  followed!  The  comings 
and  goings  of  human  beings  still  more  strike 
attention,  especially  those  of  new  forms  and 
faces,  which  may  happen  along. 

Now  the  observing  of  movement  requires  a 
distinct  operation  of  the  intellect.  Puss  asleep 
and  perfectly  still  in  her  corner  is  an  object  of 
notice  altogether  different  from  puss  skipping 
across  the  room  and  hopping  into  some  indul- 
gent lap.  So  different  is  the  action  of  an  indi- 
vidual object  from  the  individual  itself,  that 
phrenologists  affirm  there  must  be  a  distinct 
faculty  to  take  cognizance  of  it.     Indeed,  they 


96  THE  CULTURE   OF  THE 

Differences  in  the  observing  power. 

think  they  have  discovered  a  special  organ  for 
the  purpose  in  the  brain.  This  organ,  matter 
and  spirit  together,  is  denominated  Eventuali- 
ty. Whether  the  theory  be  true  or  not,  it 
gives  us  a  more  distinct  idea  of  the  intellect  in 
its  relation  both  to  actions  in  continuance  and 
actions  completed.  Now  this  particular  ob- 
serving faculty  is  of  incalculable  importance  in 
the  educational  course  of  the  young.  It  needs 
a  systematic  and  thorough  discipline  as  much 
as  any  other  faculty. 

DIFFERENCES  IN  THE   OBSERVING  POWER. 

Parents  and  educators  have  scarcely  thought 
of  the  difference  between  one  person  and  an- 
other as  to  the  ability  of  clearly  perceiving  ac- 
tions as  they  occur  before  the  sight.  Even  in 
the  same  family,  one  organization  will  be  found 
much  superior  to  another  as  to  this  sharp-sight- 
edness  at  events.  One  particular  child  will  be 
strangely  and  habitually  unobservant  of  inci- 
dents around.  Ask  him  if  he  saw  such  a  thing 
done,  and  he  knows  nothing  about  it.  It  is  as 
if  he  had  been  closed  round  with  a  thick  mist, 
or  been  living  in  a  dream-world  of  his  own,  or 


OBSERVING   FACULTIES.  97 

Differences  of  the  observing  power. 

had  no  eyes  at  all.  His  brother,  much  youn- 
ger, it  may  be,  catches,  at  the  same  time,  every 
passing  circumstance  as  with  a  kind  of  appe- 
tite. He  will  look  and  learn  at  any  rate.  He 
will  see  incidents  just  in  the  order  and  connec- 
tion in  which  they  took  place,  and  he  will  nar- 
rate them  with  equal  exactness.  Now  these 
differences  will  run  on  through  life,  and  char- 
acterize the  mental  operations  and  acquire- 
ments, and  perhaps  the  material  fortunes  of  the 
two  relatives.  The  originally  strong  power 
will  become  stronger  through  ever-new  occa- 
sions, which  it  instinctively  seizes  on  just  for 
its  own  gratification.  It  will  grow  because  it 
can  not  help  growing.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
defective  perception  will  still  continue  weak 
and  inadequate ;  that  is,  unless  it  be  developed 
by  special  training,  or  by  peculiar  circumstan- 
ces of  business  or  necessity. 

The  eventuality  of  tbe  majority  of  people, 
though  of  normal  and  average  strength,  is  so 
utterly  neglected  in  specific  education  as  but 
very  imperfectly  to  perform  its  office.  The 
world  is  full  of  action.  Things  inanimate  are 
in  movement,  and  produce  effects.  Living  crea- 
G 


THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 


Differences  of  the  observing  power. 


tures,  while  awake,  are  almost  always  in  mo- 
tiop,  either  with  or  without  some  definite  pur- 
pose. So  thick,  so  various  are  activities  of  one 
sort  and  another  around  the  human  being,  that 
he  can  not  possibly  notice  all  of  them.  He  ob- 
serves only  a  part,  and  such  as  attendant  cir- 
cumstances may  bring  to  sight.  Even  these 
he  may  not  observe  distinctly  and  accurately, 
because  there  seems  no  special  need  of  it.  He 
notices,  if  he  notices  at  all,  simply  because  he 
happens  to  look.  As  a  general  matter,  there  is 
no  directness  of  attention  caused  by  any  pre- 
vious special  discipline.  There  is,  moreover, 
no  sense  of  moral  obligation  to  endeavor  to 
know  exactly  what  takes  place  as  he  looks. 
Of  course,  if  there  is  no  call  for  particularity, 
why  should  the  child  or  the  youth  be  particu- 
lar ?  He  will  have  no  more  reason  for  it  than 
he  would  have  in  counting  the  trees  in  the 
orchard,  or  the  stones  in  the  wall,  till  he  shall 
be  put  upon  the  exercise,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
arithmetical  discipline  which  has  been  already 
advised. 


OBSERVING   FACULTIES.  99 

Consequences  of  neglected  culture. 

CONSEQUENCES  OF  NEGLECTED  CULTURE. 

Thus  it  is  that  a  faculty  of  incalculable  prac- 
tical importance  has  failed  in  its  office ;  and, 
like  all  neglects  and  failures,  this  has  been  fol- 
lowed by  more  or  less  of  retribution.  To  con- 
sider all  the  evils  resulting  from  inaccurate  ob- 
servation of  facts,  and  careless  statements  about 
them,  would  be  to  take  in  all  the  world  and  all 
time  since  Adam's  fall.  Words  and  figures 
would  fail  of  the  amount.  A  few  instances  will 
give  us  some  faint  idea  of  the  abounding  evil. 

A  careless  young  observer,  giving  an  account 
of  any  disorder  in  a  school-room,  will  make  a 
statement  quite  different  from  what  might  have 
come  from  another  witness  with  a  clear-seeing 
eye.  In  consequence,  some  poor  urchin  may 
get  an  unjust  punishment.  The  same  careless 
describer  of  the  offense,  coming  to  be  a  man,  or 
even  before  he  arrives  at  this  age,  may  be  called 
to  the  witness-stand  in  a  court  of  justice,  and 
may  unintentionally  testify  so  wide  of  the  truth 
as  to  what  his  eyes  seemed  to  behold,  that  a 
fellow-man  may  innocently  be  subjected  to  fine, 
imprisonment,  or  even  death  on  the  gallows. 


100  THE   CULTURE  OF  THE 

Consequences  of  neglected  culture. 

Now  consider  all  the  millions  of  cases  which, 
in  all  the  world,  have  been  brought  before  mag- 
istracies and  juries,  and  there  decided  according 
to  testimony,  and  we  can  have  some  idea  of  the 
thousands  of  unjust  decisions — unjust  because 
of  the  imperfect  perceptions  of  really  honest 
witnesses. 

Take  human  society  as  it  exists  every  where 
around  us.  Suppose  any  city,  town,  village, 
or  even  little  neighborhood:  what  misappre- 
hensions and  misstatement  of  facts  are  continu- 
ally occurring !  Now  and  then  some  base  scan- 
dal starts  up,  and  comes  to  an  enormous  growth. 
In  the  majority  of  such  cases  the  story  is  not 
an  entire  fabrication.  There  has  been  some  in- 
cident as  a  groundwork.  But  the  eyes  of  the 
first  observer  and  reporter  of  that  incident  were 
so  inadequate  to  their  office  that  he  gave  only 
a  part  of  the  truth,  or  added  a  trifle  to  it.  Thus 
the  error  first  sprang  into  existence;  then,  pass- 
ing from  lip  to  lip,  it  grew  at  length  into  a  great 
fiction,  having  but  little  of  the  original  verity 
about  it.  All  this  might  happen  through  a 
mere  intellectual  defect,  without  the  least  inten- 
tion of  departure  from  the  exact  truth. 


OBSERVING   FACULTIES.  101 

Consequences  of  neglected  culture. 

Again:  the  mistake  might  originate  from  the 
same  incapacity  in  some  one  of  the  hearers  of 
an  affair.  It  must  be  understood  that  those 
persons  who  would  naturally  see  a  transaction 
but  imperfectly,  would  also,  from  the  same 
weakness  of  faculty,  get  imperfect  notions  in 
hearing  an  account  of  a  transaction,  even  ii 
that  should  be  thoroughly  correct.  In  the  first 
place,  they  receive  but  a  dim  idea  of  an  occur- 
rence as  it  comes  to  the  ear;  then  they  but 
faintly  remember  it.  In  a  procedure  embrac- 
ing a  series  of  incidents,  some  one  item  or  more 
may  fall  out  of  memory  altogether.  Conse- 
quently, their  statement  of  the  case  will  make 
quite  a  different  matter.  Thus,  however  ex- 
actly truthful  a  first  observer  and  narrator  may 
be,  hearers  will  inadvertently  receive  only  dim 
and  altogether  inadequate  ideas  of  an  affair. 
In  this  way,  a  chance  auditor  of  some  truthful 
narration  may  start  a  most  egregious  error  on 
its  irrepressible  course  through  the  lips  and 
ears  of  a  community.  While  there  is  but  one 
original  witness,  and  he  entirely  truthful,  there 
may  be  at  length  a  hundred  hearers  of  his  ac- 
count, many  of  whom  will  unintentionally  re- 


102  THE  CULTURE  OF  THE 

Consequences  of  neglected  culture. 

peat  it  with  more  or  less  variation  from  the 
facts  as  they  come  to  their  ears.  No  wonder 
that  falsifications  so  numerously  and  so  uni- 
versally prevail,  when  we  consider  this  one  sim- 
ple, unthought-of  intellectual  deficiency. 

Still,  all  the  evil  is  not  to  be  imputed  to  this 
source.  There  are  very  often  moral  perversi- 
ties through  which  such  mistakes  are  magnified, 
and  made  far  more  operative  for  evil.  A  char- 
acteristic love  for  gossip,  together  with  peculiar 
imaginative  ability,  will  enlarge  a  trifle  into 
wonderful  magnitude,  and  diversify  it  with  cu- 
rious forms.  But,  what  is  much  worse,  an  un- 
charitable, censorious  disposition  will  exagger- 
ate and  blacken  little  innocent  afiairs  into  hein- 
ous sins  or  even  enormous  crimes.  A  bad  spir- 
it, with  a  big  imagination,  will  create  monsters 
out  of  almost  nothing.  Thus  it  is  that  heart- 
burnings, broken  friendships,  and  even  bloody 
assaults  and  cruel  murders  have  come  to  pass 
without  number.  Very  few,  as  society  has 
been  and  now  is,  go  through  life  without  some 
personal  experience  of  the  sort. 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  103 

Mistaken  submission  to  the  evil.  What  a  new  discipline  would  do» 

MISTAKEN  SUBMISSION  TO  THE   EVIL. 

Such  carelessness  has  there  always  been  in 
observation  and  statement,  so  uncommon  is  per- 
fect accuracy,  that  errors  are  taken  as  a  mat- 
ter of  course,  and  as  what  can  not  be  helped. 
While  an  individual  is  under  personal  griev- 
ance, he  will  complain  of  careless  eyes  and 
truthless  speech,  but  otherwise  there  is  a  singu- 
lar indifference  to  the  evil.  People  do  not  ex- 
pect the  truth.  They  are  inured  to  falsehood, 
and  let  it  go.  No  idea  of  improvement  in  the 
way  of  education  has-  occurred  probably  to  one 
in  a  thousand.  Any  moral  obliquity,  it  is  ex- 
pected, may  possibly  be  corrected  by  Christian 
influences,  but  any  thing  farther  is  hardly  con- 
sidered within  the  range  of  reform.  Things  are 
as  they  have  been,  and  so  must  they  continue 
to  be,  unless  supernatural  influences  shall  arrest 
their  course  and  make  a  change. 

WHAT  A  NEW  DISCIPLINE  WOULD   DO. 

It  is  rational  to  suppose  that  much  improve- 
ment may  be  achieved  by  simply  understand- 
ing the  mental  organism,  and  conforming  the 


104  THE   CULTURE   OF   THE 

What  a  new  discipline  would  do. 

early  discipline  to  its  conditions.  There  is  a 
great  advantage  in  good  intellectual  habits,  in- 
dependent of  moral  convictions  and  principles, 
if  these  latter  influences  on  conduct  can  not  be 
had.  Let  a  child  be  trained,  as  a  matter  of  dis- 
cipline, to  see  and  describe  things  exactly  as 
they  are,  and  this  habit  of  accuracy  will  con- 
tinue in  after  life,  just  as  any  other  habit  may 
continue,  entirely  separate  from  the  thought  of 
moral  obligation.  A  person  may  be  educated 
to  extraordinary  facility  in  arithmetical  calcu- 
lations :  no  moral  element  enters  into  this  pe- 
culiar ability.  Just  so  it  may  be  with  the  per- 
ception of  events.  Could  all  the  families  of  a 
neighborhood  be  trained,  from  their  earliest  in- 
fancy upward,  to  see  things  precisely  as  they 
are,  and  to  describe  them  just  as  they  were 
seen ;  and  could  the  same  discipline  be  carried 
into  schools,  and  the  pupils  be  trained  to  be  as 
exact  in  observation  and  description  as  they 
are  trained  to  be  exact  in  performing  arithmet- 
ical problems,  there  would  be  an  unexampled 
improvement  in  conversational  trustworthiness 
and  in  neighborly  relations.  There  would  be, 
as  there  is  in  other  things,  a  sort  of  emulative 


OBSERVING   FACULTIES.  105 

How  the  discipline  may  begin. 

desire  for  accuracy,  and  perfect  truthfulness  to 
fact.  A  failure  as  to  the  precise  fact  would 
lower  the  intellectual  standing  and  reputation. 
A  faulty  observer  and  teller  of  incidents  would 
be  considered  as  poorly  educated,  like  a  blun- 
dering reader  or  a  bad  speller.  Could  such  a 
discipline  be  carried  into  every  family  and  ev- 
ery school  of  the  country,  there  would  be  a  na- 
tional reform.  A  whole  people  would  be  edu- 
cated to  see  events  accurately,  as  they  might  be 
educated  to  survey  correctly  and  minutely  the 
geographical  features  of  their  native  town,  as 
was  recommended  in  the  suggestions  about 
place.  They  would  be  capacitated  not  only  to 
observe  actions  in  their  progress,  but  to  appre- 
hend the  causes  and  the  results  of  action  to  a 
degree  beyond  all  former  precedent.  Could 
moral  and  religious  motives  be  brought  to  bear 
on  this  point  of  culture  as  they  ought,  what  won- 
ders of  improvement  might  be  accomplished ! 
But  the  all-important  aid  of  the  conscience  and 
the  heart  will  be  hereafter  considered. 

HOW   THE   DISCIPLINE   MAY   BEGIN. 

As  soon  as  a  child  is  able  to  tell  his  expe- 


106  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

How  the  discipline  may  begin. 

riences,  it  may  be  easily  perceived  what  native 
strength  and  precision  of  eventuality  he  may 
possess.  Then  according  to  his  lack  must  be 
the  particularity  and  assiduousness  of  his  edu- 
cators. 

Now  the  question  comes,  Where  and  how 
shall  the  necessary  training  be  commenced? 
There  need  be  no  search  after  lessons ;  for — to 
use  several  of  the  appropriate  terms — motion, 
action,  incidents,  events,  and  facts  are  close  by, 
and  every  where  around.  The  first  thing  that 
happens  may  be  an  exercise  of  discipline,  if  the 
child  is  old  enough  to  notice  and  give  some  ac- 
count of  it.  Still,  there  must  be  advantage  in 
system ;  and,  for  this  reason,  one  subject  will 
be  preferable  to  another. 

Certain  transactions  are  better  suited  to  be- 
gin with  than  others,  which  might  be  good  for 
a  farther  stage  of  progress.  One  of  the  ac- 
knowledged rules  of  education  is  to  commence 
with  what  is  best  known  or  can  be  most  easily 
known,  and  thence  proceed  to  things  more  dif- 
ficult. The  chief  requisites  are  distinctness  of 
perception  and  correctness  in  recital.  It  is  im- 
portant that  the  several  parts  of  a  proceeding 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  107 

Household  lessons. 

should  be  noticed  according  to  their  precise 
succession.  Those  operations  are  excellent  for 
attention  and  questioning,  at  the  outset,  in 
which  first  one  thing  is  done,  then  another,  in 
necessary  order. 

HOUSEHOLD   LESSONS. 

The  industrial  concerns  of  a  household  are 
numerous  and  diverse :  let  them,  by  turns,  be- 
come lessons  for  observation.  No  better  in- 
stances can  be  presented  to  children  than  the 
goings-on  around  them  in  ordinary  work. 
They  are  interested  in  what  their  friends  do. 
The  smiling  aspect  and  kind  tones  of  invitation 
will  be  all  that  is  wanted  to  enlist  their  special 
attention  to  any  movement,  or  series  of  move- 
ments, performed  by  their  domestic  friends. 

But  let  us  illustrate.  Take,  for  example,  the 
setting  of  the  table  for  dinner.  There  is,  first, 
the  drawing-out  of  the  table  to  the  proper  po- 
sition; second,  the  lifting  and  fastening  of  the 
leaves ;  then  the  spreading  of  the  cloth,  and  so 
on,  one  performance  after  another,  till  the  meal 
is  ready,  and  the  family  are  at  knife  and  fork. 
Now  let  the  child,  as  a  matter  of  discipline,  ex- 


108  THE  CULTURE  OF  THE 

Household  lessons. 

actly  describe  every  process  of  the  table -set- 
ting in  its  exact  order.  Let  there  be  no  mis- 
take in  the  sequences,  as  perfect  accuracy  in 
this  particular  respect  is  one  of  the  benefits  of 
the  lesson.  The  same  use  may  be  made  of 
other  household  duties  in  which  there  is  a  me- 
thodical routine.  Of  course,  children,  whether 
desired  or  not,  usually  notice  such  proceedings. 
These  are  among  the  occasions  of  that  uncon- 
scious and  gradual  development  of  intellect 
which  will  go  on  without  care  or  thought  on 
the  part  of  the  little  lookers  or  their  friends. 
But,  according  to  their  native  power  of  event- 
uality, they  may  either  notice  each  particular 
of  a  transaction  in  its  due  order,  or  have  but 
imperfect  perceptions  and  confused  ideas.  The 
important  point  aimed  at  is  accuracy  in  seeing 
and  telling,  as  a  settled  characteristic ;  an  abil- 
ity which  shall  prevent  no  small  harm,  and  do 
great  good,  in  that  future  which  depends  so 
much  on  early-formed  habits.  Take  mental 
constitutions  as  the  average,  and  this  perfect 
exactness  of  sight  and  speech  can  not  be  had 
without  some  special  discipline.  The  practical 
advantages  warrant  all  the  pains  which  can 
possibly  be  given  to  the  subject. 


OBSERVING   FACULTIES.  109 

Manufacturing  and  agricultural  lessons. 

MANUFACTURINa  LESSONS. 

Besides  the  various  kinds  of  orderly  work 
at  home,  the  several  divisions  of  skilled  labor, 
the  distinct  and  life-long  occupations  of  people, 
will  afford  most  valuable  exercises  in  this  sort 
of  observation. 

First,  take  those  more  simple  mechanical 
trades  which  are  common  in  every  country  vil- 
lage or  town,  and  are  mainly  carried  on  by 
hand.  In  each  one  of  these  there  is  an  order- 
ly procedure :  first  one  thing  is  done,  then  an- 
other, and  so  on  through  a  course  of  work. 
Now  let  a  child  of  adequate  age  watch  the 
processes,  and  afterward  give  an  exact  account. 
In  due  time,  have  him  visit  mills  and  factories, 
and  trace  their  more  complex  operations,  no- 
ticing how  the  several  connected  forces  produce 
results. 

AGRICULTURAL  LESSONS. 

Educational  visits  to  the  farm  must  certainly 
not  be  omitted.  Its  affairs  are  probably  more 
numerous  and  diverse  than  those  of  any  other 
separate  productive  employment.     From  the 


110  THE   CULTUBE   OF  THE 

Benefits. 

first  touch  of  culture  in  the  spring  till  all  the 
harvests  are  gathered  in,  there  is  orderly  pro- 
gressive work.  Then,  in  the  winter,  there  is 
the  kindly  care  of  animals  in  several  daily 
processes.  There  are,  besides,  useful  but  less 
regular  doings  which  come  in  between  the  rest. 
Now  all  these  matters,  judiciously  presented, 
would  be  exceedingly  interesting  and  instruct- 
ive to  the  fresh  perceptions  of  the  young. 
They  should  begin  their  agricultural  observa- 
tions with  the  earliest  movements  in  the 
spring:  Let  them  notice  every  distinct  kind 
of  labor  in  all  its  items,  and  these  in  their  or- 
derly and  precise  succession.  Then  an  account 
should  be  required  as  perfectly  exact  as  any 
prescribed  recitation  at  school. 

BENEFITS. 

All  industrial  occupations  might  afford  les- 
sons similar  to  those  indicated  above.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  particularize  any  farther.  Now 
it  can  not  be  doubted  that  this  peculiar  disci- 
pline would  be  of  no  inestimable  advantage  to 
the  young  as  candidates  for  life's  activities  and 
uses.     No  descriptive  books  could  equal,  or 


OBSEKVING   FACULTIES.  Ill 

What  a  father  might  do. 

make  up  for,  this  positive  knowledge  caught 
by  the  naked  eye. 

One  special  and  important  benefit  would  be 
the  obtaining  of  some  considerable  insight  into 
the  various  trades  and  pursuits  of  men.  The 
pupil  would  also  learn  something  not  only 
about  methods  of  procedure,  but  about  the  ma- 
terials and  implements  used.  What  is,  more- 
over, of  much  consequence,  he  would  obtain 
that  knowledge  of  different  kinds  of  business 
which  is  really  necessary  to  develop  his  own 
taste,  and  to  form  his  judgment  in  respect  to 
the  choice  of  an  employment  for  himself.  Still 
farther,  he  would  eventually  come  to  that  un- 
derstanding of  the  various  avocations  of  men 
which  is  quite  necessary  to  form  a  just  esti- 
mate of  their  respective  and  peculiar  services. 
Indeed,  such  a  knowledge  would  lead  to  that 
charity  and  kindliness  which  is  so  much  need- 
ed, but  is  so  often  withheld. 

WHAT  A  FATHER  MIGHT  DO.      - 

It.  may  be  averred  that, .in  this  intelligent 
part  of  the  country,  most  people  have  some 
general  ideas  of  the  different  departments  of 


112  THE   CULTURE   OF   THE 

Nature's  works  and  ways. 

industry.  But  why  not  possess  a  more  thor- 
ough and  systematic  knowledge,  when  it  can 
be  so  easily  gained  ?  During  the  years  usual- 
ly devoted  to  education,  there  might  be  ob- 
tained a  quite  extensive  and  comparatively  in- 
timate acquaintance  with  the  various  pursuits 
of  life,  and  this  without  much  that  would  seem 
like  a  task.  Nothing  would  be  necessary  but 
simply  to  take  or  make  occasions.  A  father 
could  scarcely  better  employ  a  little  respite 
from  business  than  to  take  his  children,  as  a 
pleasant  pastime,  to  places  of  various  indus- 
trial activity.  A  small  portion  of  the  time 
now  spent  in  school  on  studies  unadapted  to 
the  pupil's  age,  but  faintly  understood  and 
quickly  forgotten,  would  suffice  for  the  pur- 
pose. 

nature's  works  and  ways. 
Man's  art  and  industry  should  not  engage 
the  whole  attention.  In  the  mean  time,  let 
children,  from  the  earliest  ability,  observe  the 
movements  and  processes  of  nature.  If  they 
are  capable  of  admiring  human  inventions  and 
their  effects,  they  can  be  led  to  admire  and 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  113 

Nature' s  works  and  ways. 

Study  the  wonderful  machinery  by  which  the 
Creator  brings  about  results.  Some  will  see 
and  reflect  considerably,  and  ask  questions, 
and  grow  in  knowledge  with  but  little  prompt- 
ing. It  is  not  so  with  the  majority.  They 
soon  become  so  accustomed  to  all  regular  phe- 
nomena that  they  cease  to  think  much  about 
them.  As  for  the  more  covert  processes,  ex- 
cepting such  as  may  unexpectedly  startle  their 
sight,  they  scarcely,  by  themselves  alone,  find 
them  out.  Whatever  is  going  on  continually 
in  regular  successions  of  movement,  and  which 
has  been  thus  going  on  from  the  earliest  re- 
membrance, is  unheeded  by  most,  simply  be- 
cause of  this  very  order  and  constancy.  It  is 
with  people,  as  they  grow  gradually  up,  in  re- 
spect to  the  mechanism  of  nature,  as  it  is  in  re- 
spect to  the  household  time-piece :  they  are  so 
accustomed  to  its  tick,  tick,  that  they  do  not 
hear  it ;  and  if  they  happen  to  catch  a  glimpse 
of  the  inner  machinery,  they  have  no  curiosity 
to  study  a  structure  which,  close  by,  has  served 
their  convenience  so  well  and  so  long. 

These  faculties,  thus  admirably  fitted  to  ob- 
serve and  know,  should  not  become  so  dead- 
H 


114  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

Nature's  works  and  ways. 

ened  and  useless.  The  infinite  Designer  and 
Maker  not  did  so  intend.  The  infant  possess- 
or begins  early  and  aright  to  use  them.  His 
innate  instincts,  almost  as  soon  as  he  fairly  gets 
his  eyes  open,  prompt  him  to  look  and  learn. 
How  intently  he  gazes  on  the  flickering  flame 
or  the  waving  tree !  He  is  pleased  with  any 
sort  of  gentle  motion.  But  these  instincts 
should  grow  into  earnest  desires  to  look  farther 
and  farther,  and  to  learn  still  more  and  more. 
All  that  is  needed  with  most  is  easily -given 
direction  and  sympathy.  At  first  the  child 
simply  observes  movement,  and  has  no  thought 
beyond  the  impression  on  his  sight.  But  this 
observation  is  the  initiative  step  toward  the 
whole  philosophy  of  causes,  effects,  and  uses. 
This  one  perceptive  power,  eventuality,  holds 
the  key,  as  it  were,  to  all  natural  science.  This 
science,  in  large  degree,  consists  in  understand- 
ing how  the  masses  and  elements  of  matter, 
and  the  organic  forms  of  it,  act  on  each  other, 
and  what  are  the  ends  designed.  Of  course, 
the  action  must  first  be  known  before  it  can  be 
discerned  whence  it  comes,  or  to  what  it  tends. 
What  rounds,  and  ranges,  and  mazes  of  move- 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  115 

Casual  events. 

ment  between  the  stupendous  rolling  and  cir- 
cling of  worlds  and  the  leaping  affinities  of 
atoms! — an  infinitude  of  agents  and  activities; 
millions  of  distinct  organs,  and  offices,  and  op- 
erations, yet  one  connected  and  harmonious 
mechanism,  moved  every  moment  by  one  in- 
finite Power.  Now,  parent,  shall  all  this  be 
no  more  to  your  beloved  child's  curiosity  than 
the  ever-swinging  pendulum  or  the  ceaseless 
tick  of  the  old  convenient  clock  ? 

CASUAL  EVENTS. 

Besides  those  processes  which  take  place  in 
regular  routine,  and  which  may  be  repeatedly 
observed  by  the  learner,  and,  as  it  were,  got  by 
heart,  there  are  other  occurrences  which  are 
fortuitous  and  unexpected.  Nothing  before  has 
been  exactly  like  them,  and  nothing  will  follow 
exactly  similar  in  the  collocation  of  all' the  sev- 
eral objects  and  circumstances.  Events  of  this 
sort  are  transpiring  every  moment.  Mankind, 
exercising  their  own  wills,  are  continually  do- 
ing this  and  that,  according  to  contingencies. 
It  is  such  transactions,  not  distinctly  observed, 
and  affording  no  second  opportunity  for  bet- 


116  THE   CULTURE   OF   THE 

Casual  events. 

ter  sight,  which  occasion  those  misstatements 
whence  come  innumerable  difficulties  and  heart- 
burnings in  society.  Perfect  accuracy  in  ob- 
serving and  representing  these  is  of  surpassing 
importance.  A  habit  of  being  truthful  to  facts 
should  as  early  as  possible  be  formed.  To  this 
end,  no  discipline  can  hardly  be  too  persistent 
and  thorough. 

Those  unimportant  incidents,  ever  new  and 
various,  which  are  continually  happening  with- 
in and  around  the  home,  present  the  most  con- 
venient lessons  to  the  little  observer.  Of  course, 
it  is  not  necessary  that  he  shall  get  through  all 
the  methodical  processes  before  alluded  to,  even 
those  within  the  house,  before  he  may  be  put 
upon  these.  Let  it  be  an  emphatic  require- 
ment that,  in  his  account,  he  shall  omit  no  cir- 
cumstance, nor  put  one  out  of  its  exact  order, 
any  more  than  he  did  in  the  case  of  the  table- 
setting,  or  any  other  fixed  and  regular  proceed- 
ing. Thus  a  habit  will  be  formed  of  distinct 
and  consecutive  observation.  Besides,  in  this 
way,  the  young  mind  will  be  aided  in  acquir- 
ing that  ability  of  concentrated  attention  which 
is  so  important  to  success  in  either  study  or 
business. 


OBSERVING   FACULTIES.  117 

Influence  upon  literature. 

If  those  casual  occurrences  which  are  in 
themselves  of  no  special  importance  shall  be 
accurately  noticed,  those  transactions  which 
make  their  mark  on  a  day  or  a  week,  or  on  the 
times,  will,  of  course,  secure  the  pupil's  close 
and  minute  attention.  There  are  those  proceed- 
ings which  may  be  not  only  a  discipline,  but 
a  rich  instruction.  Among  these  are  public 
movements  and  spectacles.  Some  of  them  grow 
out  of  prevalent  tastes  and  customs,  such  as 
funeral  and  civic  processions,  ordinary  military 
parades,  and  anniversary  occasions.  Others 
make  a  part  of  the  history  of  the  times,  such 
as  the  marching  of  troops  and  the  sailing  of 
war- vessels,  as  in  the  present  great  national  cri- 
sis. Hitherto  no  specific  and  circumstantial  at- 
tention to  such  events  has  generally  been  re- 
quired as  a  part  of  education ;  but  they  afford 
lessons  of  far  greater  value,  if  rightly  conduct- 
ed, than  are  found  in  the  naked,  crumb-like 
facts  of  some  historical  text-books,  which  weari- 
ly occupy  much  time  in  seminaries  of  learning. 

INFLUENCE   UPON  LITERATURE. 
It  is  by  no  means  intended  to  disparage  the 


118  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

Influence  upon  literature. 

Study  of  well-written  history.  Indeed,  intent 
and  thorough  observation,  study  of  passing  af- 
fairs, which  has  been  recommended,  will  be  a 
valuable  preparative  for  the  study  of  history  in 
the  school,  or  for  the  profitable  perusal  of  it  at 
any  subsequent  time.  It  will  be  a  useful  quali- 
fication for  any  sort  of  reading  in  which  facts 
are  comprised.  A  person  who,  from  constitu- 
tional defect,  takes  but  a  slight  or  confused 
notice  of  present  occurrences,  will  have  but  a 
slight  remembrance  of  them.  He  will  have  a 
much  more  imperfect  idea  and  remembrance  of 
transactions  which  are  presented  only  through 
language.  The  action-noting  faculty,  which  has 
been  well  disciplined  by  what  transpires  imme- 
diately before  it,  will  be  more  readily  impressed 
by  mere  verbal  communications.  A  narrated 
occurrence  will  thus  be  more  clearly  conceived 
of:  it  will  not  seem  distant  and  dim,  but,  as  it 
were,  present  and  distinct,  to  this  particular  ob- 
serving power.  The  memory,  moreover,  will 
be  proportionally  retentive ;  for  each  intellect- 
ual faculty  is  supposed  to  have  a  memory  of  its 
own,  so  that  the  eventuality  which  is  keen  to 
perceive  is  also  strong  to  retain. 


OBSERVING   FACULTIES.  119 

Influence  upon  literature. 

This  exactness  in  the  knowledge  and  pres- 
entation of  events,  as  a  matter  of  culture  and 
general  habit,  must  necessarily  have  a  most 
salutary  effect  upon  the  literature  of  the  peo- 
ple, both  that  which  they  themselves  make  and 
that  which  is  made  for  them.  If  conversation 
become  more  true  to  fact,  epistolary  communi- 
cations will  share  the  improvement.  Gossip 
by  the  pen  will  be  reformed  as  well  as  gossip 
by  the  tongue.  But,  beyond  this,  historical 
compositions  will  be  characterized  by  more 
thorough  and  satisfactory  research.  A  public 
opinion  which  has  been  trained  up  to  the  mark 
of  absolute  truth  must  press  upon  the  respon- 
sibility of  writers,  so  that  history,  in  future, 
shall  not  have  to  be  rewritten,  and  the  charac- 
ters of  men  rejudged,as  heretofore,  for  the  sake 
of  right  and  justice. 

Again :  with  this  better  culture  as  to  action, 
fictitious  productions,  which  now  make  so  large 
a  part  of  the  common  reading,  will  be  altogeth- 
er more  faithful  to  nature.  No  small  portion 
of  the  novels,  and  especially  of  the  juvenile 
tales  of  the  day,  are  poor  representations  of 
human  life.    Their  authors  seem  to  haye  been 


120  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

Newspaper  reform. 

living,  from  childhood  up,  in  an  imaginary- 
world.  They  have  not  studied,  as  they  should, 
nature  and  man  in  those  multitudinous  activi- 
ties by  which  traits  and  qualities  are  truly 
made  known.  Now  this  special  culture  of 
eventuality  will  supply  fancy  and  invention 
with  those  truthful  materials  which  have  hith- 
erto been  so  much  wanting.  Thus  the  crea- 
tions of  genius  will  become  verisimilitudes  of 
what  has  been  actually  experienced,  or  what 
at  least  is  possible  to  man  in  view  of  the  known 
principles  of  his  being  and  his  surrounding 
conditions. 

Coming  generations  will  have  this  true  liter- 
ature. When  the  whole  people  shall  be  train- 
ed to  an  exact  observation  of  the  real  and 
moving  world,  then  the  few  who  shall  write 
for  the  people  will  not  fail  of  that  best  disci- 
pline and  knowledge  which  comes  through  the 
primitive  and  surest  use  of  the  eyes. 

NEWSPAPER  REFORM. 

One  of  the  most  important  benefits  to  come 
from  eventuality,  as  it  should  be,  is  the  im- 
provement  in    newspaper    literature.     Every 


OBSERVING   FACULTIES.  121 

Newspaper  reform. 

body  in  our  country,  who  can  read  at  all,  reads 
the  newspaper.  It  exerts  a  wider  and  deeper 
influence  than  any  other  emanation  from  the 
press.  It  does  unmeasured  good,  but  also 
much  evil.  A  new  appetite  has  been  engen- 
dered, or  rather  a  constitutional  one  intensified 
tenfold.  It  is  a  rabid  hunger  for  something 
new ;  and,  besides  this,  for  something  as  much 
as  possible  exciting.  The  newspaper  would 
not  be  a  newspaper  unless  it  furnished  this  new 
thing.  Hence  a  competition  between  journals. 
That  goes  off  best  which  contains  the  keenest 
stimulative  for  the  moment.  The  slightest  ru- 
mor is  caught  up,  and  made  the  most  of  to-day ; 
but  it  may  be  utterly  contradicted  to-morrow. 
No  matter;  it  serves  its  end;  it  satisfies  the 
craving.  Thus,  if  no  other  harm  is  done, 
thought  is  prevented  from  settling  down  on 
serious  and  really  important  subjects.  The 
popular  mind  is  unsettled,  and  is  kept  unset- 
tled and  unstable.  There  is  especially  a  bad 
effect  upon  the  young,  who,  as  they  grow  up, 
ought  to  be  getting  their  faculties  more  and 
more,  and  continually,  into  a  condition  of 
strength  and  consolidation.     For  thorough-go- 


122  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

Newspaper  reform. 

ing,  substantial  readiDg,  there  is  not  time ;  and 
as  for  deeper  science  and  philosophy,  they  are 
scarcely  thought  of  after  leaving  the  school. 

Now,  should  there  be  an  education  from  the 
earliest  to  a  clear  perception  of  passing  inci- 
dents, and  to  a  thoroughly  accurate  statement 
of  them,  the  young  would  come  up  into  life 
with  a  habit  of  accuracy,  and,  in  consequence, 
with  a  taste  for  it.  Vague  observation,  and 
more  vague  description,  would  be  no  part  of 
their  experience.  For  such  readers,  the  news- 
paper item  about  somebody  or  something  must 
have  a  ground  of  probability.  If  such  things 
be  found  within  a  day  or  a  week  utterly  false, 
the  public  taste  and  habit  will  say,  "  Away 
with  them !  nothing  of  this !"  Thus  journals 
will  compete  with  each  other  for  exactness  to 
the  truth.  A  public  man's  character  will  have 
a  safety  not  recently  experienced.  A  distin- 
guished lady's  delicacy  will  not  be  offended  by 
some  false  rumor  about  her,  as  is  now  some- 
times the  case,  published  from  end  to  end  of 
the  land.  Thousands  of  things,  utterly  unwar- 
ranted, will  not  be  breathed  into  growth,  as  at 
present,  by  this  hot  breath  of  desire  for  the 
new  and  exciting. 


OBSERVING   FACULTIES.  123 

Partisan  calumnies  checked. 

In  this  advanced  age,  when  steam  and  tele- 
graph bring  news  from  all  quarters  of  the 
world,  sufficient  for  every  day's  entertainment, 
falsehood  will  not  be  needed.  Indeed,  there 
will  hardly  be  leisure  to  glance  along  the 
abundance  of  authenticated  facts;  and  many 
of  these,  in  this  new  and  wonder- producing 
era,  may  be  quite  as  attractive  to  curiosity  as 
any  catchpenny  fabrications,  or  even  the  more 
innocent  scintillations  of  genius. 

PARTISAN  CALUMNIES  CHECKED. 

But,  above  all,  the  bitter  calumnies  of  polit- 
ical partisanship  must  receive  a  wholesome 
check,  if  they  do  not  utterly  come  to  an  end. 
These  are  the  worst  concomitants  of  our  elect- 
ive government.  These  are  the  abominations 
of  the  country.  These  too  often  thrust  our 
best  men  prematurely  into  retirement,  or  pre- 
vent them  from  coming  out  of  it  at  all.  As 
things  are  now,  character  is  mangled,  murdered 
in  political  warfare.  Could  the  people  of  this 
country  be  trained  to  be  faithful  to  fact,  a  salu- 
tary influence  must  be  exerted  in  this  direction. 
A  change  for  the  better  would  be  wrought, 


124  THE   CULTURE   OF   THE 

Partisan  calumnies  checked. 

.  such  as  hitherto  has  never  been  known  in  pop- 
ular governments.  If  absolute  fact  be  demand- 
ed, all  electioneering  misrepresentations  must 
cease.  That  party  which  should  resort  to  fal- 
sifications must  succumb  —  must  wear  written 
on  its  very  forehead  Wrong,  Let  a  thorough 
examination  into  facts  be  the  groundwork  of 
political  opinion,  and  the  reason,  the  intelli- 
gence, the  common  sense  of  voters  would  bring 
an  overwhelming  majority  to  the  side  of  the 
right  and  the  best.  The  people  would  come 
to  know  who  are  their  truly  wise,  good,  and 
great  men,  and  would  give  to  them  their  confi- 
dence. The  people  would  confide  also  in  each 
other.  Then,  instead  of  democracy,  deceived, 
cheated,  degraded,  and  made  a  by-word  through 
the  monarchies  of  Europe,  there  would  be  a 
democracy  like  the  clear  shining  of  the  sun 
after  the  rain,  enlightening  the  eyes,  and  warm- 
ing the  hearts  of  the  common  masses  all  over 
the  world.  It  would  be  like  a  great  luminary 
in  the  heavens,  ascending  toward  its  noon^  it 
might  be,  but  there  to  stand  still,  as  the  sun 
did  of  old,  while  the  true  and  the  faithful  every 
where  should  become  victorious  and  free. 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  125 

Present  state  of  our  nation. 

PRESENT  STATE   OF  OUR  NATION. 

But  such  a  state  of  things  has  not  yet  been, 
and  many  fear  that  it  will  not  exist  perhaps 
for  ages.  Our  nation,  at  this  moment,  heaves 
and  tosses  like  ocean  in  the  storm ;  yea,  as  with 
the  more  terrible  earthquake,  opening  new 
chasms  downward,  shooting  new  volcanoes  up- 
ward, even  shaking  the  nations  that  are  afar 
off*,  and  perplexing  monarchs  on  their  thrones. 
And  all  this  has  come  from  the  lies  of  selfish, 
wicked  men.  Old  custom,  the  love  of  ease,  of 
power,  of  wealth,  arid  luxury,  could  not  possi- 
bly have  prevailed,  had  it  not  been  for  this 
diabolical  "  refuge  of  lies."  Had  the  truth  as 
to  facts,  nothing  but  the  truth,  been  presented 
from  the  platform  and  the  press  for  the  last 
thirty  years — had  the  people  received  the  truth, 
and  reflected  it  to  each  other  just  as  the  mil- 
lions of  the  summer  dewdrops  reflect  the  un- 
failing, benignant  sun,  the  present  fratricidal 
war  could  never  have  been.  It  would  have 
been  as  utterly  impossible  as  for  hailstones  and 
thunderbolts  to  have  fallen  from  the  cloudless 
sky  on  herb,  and  beast,  and  man  below. 


126  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

Present  state  of  our  nation. 

The  demons  of  falsehood  still  divide  the 
land.  The  Father  of  Lies  himself  hangs,  as  it 
were,  invisibly  over  it,  in  all  his  hideous,  heav- 
en-defying malignity,  and  scatters  his  own  ar- 
rows of  destruction  into  the  ears  and  the  un- 
derstandings, and  down  into  the  hearts  of  a 
credulous  people.  What  the  end  will  be,  no 
one  but  the  omniscient  God,  or  foreseeing  and 
truthful  angels,  can  tell.  Parents  and  teachers, 
such  now  is  the  state  of  our  country;  and  why 
is  it  so?  why  has  it  been  so?  Because  the 
parents  and  teachers,  your  predecessors,  gener- 
ation back  behind  generation,  did  not  train  the 
young  to  see  the  truth,  to  speak  the  truth,  and 
to  live  the  truth.  It  is  because  the  educators 
themselves  have  been  false :  how,  then,  could 
they  train  their  children  and  pupils  to  be 
true? 

Now,  shall  this  state  of  things  remain?  Shall 
it  be  ages  before  we  become  a  stable  people, 
with  a  stable  government  and  a  stable  pros- 
perity ?  It  all  depends  upon  you,  parents  and 
teachers  of  this  nation,  whether  we  shall  grow 
into  safety,  and  realize  the  hopes  of  yearning 
millions  the  earth  over,  or  not.     Accept  the 


OBSERVING   FACULTIES.  127 

Discipline  of  the  conscience. 

views  which  have  been  here  imperfectly  pre- 
sented as  to  training  to  the  truth ;  let  them  be 
adopted  in  the  family,  in  the  school,  in  the  land 
throughout ;  and,  with  one  addition  in  the  ed- 
ucational plan,  there  will  be,  there  must  be,  in- 
evitable success. 

DISCIPLINE  OF  THE  CONSCIENCE. 

But  this  addition — the  discipline  of  the  con- 
science— is  the  most  important  matter  of  all. 
Without  it  there  can  be  no  assurance  of  steady 
progress  and  of  final  security.  This  is  the  cul- 
ture of  the  conscience  side  by  side  with  the 
discipline  of  the  observing  intellect.  Nothing 
can  be  more  true,  as  all  history  proves,  than 
that  the  human  heart  is  deceitful  above  all 
things,  and  desperately  wicked.  Such  is  the 
selfishness  of  human  nature — a  selfishness  act- 
ing from  very  infancy,  and  strengthening  with 
the  years,  subjugating  the  intellect  to  its  serv- 
ice— that  the  conscience  must  be  awakened  at 
the  earliest,  and  set  to  its  restraining  work. 
All  the  solemn  warnings  of  religion  will  be 
needed  with  some  constitutions  to  make  the 
tongue's  statement  true  to  the  eye's  witness- 


128  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

Discipline  of  the  conscience. 

ing.  Parents,  upon  you  is  imposed,  by  the  in- 
finitely True,  the  responsibility  of  quickening 
the  moral  sense  of  your  children'  to  the  surest 
guardianship  over  the  tongue,  and,  indeed,  over 
the  feelings  and  motives  which  lie  beneath  the 
speech.  Teach  them  that  knowingly  to  devi- 
ate from  exactness,  even  as  to  trivial  incidents, 
is  to  be  guilty  of  falsehood,  and  falsehood  re- 
plete with  danger ;  for  it  prepares  the  way  for 
more  serious  deviations,  and  thence  more  hein- 
ous obliquity.  Impress  upon  them  that  what 
has  once  really  taken  place  is  fixed:  it  has 
been,  it  exists  as  a  fact  forever.  However  hu- 
man beings  may  misconceive  it,  take  from  it, 
or  add  to  it,  there  it  is,  printed  on  the  irrevers- 
ible page  of  the  past ;  there  it  is,  moreover, 
naked  before  the  Omniscient  Eye.  Neither 
wishes,  nor  prejudices,  nor  passions,  nor  vol- 
umes of  words  can  change  it  one  tittle.  In  the 
process  of  time,  and  in  the  passing  away  of 
temporary  motives  and  feelings,  events  may 
come  to  be  seen  in  their  true  light.  Then  self- 
seekers  and  falsifiers  will  stand  out  exposed  in 
the  same  light,  and  in  their  naked  deformity. 
Train  your  children,  therefore,  to  believe  and 


OBSERVING   FACULTIES.  129 

Two  beings  who  can  not  be  escaped. 

to  feel  that  they  might  as  well  struggle  up,  de- 
spite of  gravitation,  into  the  clouds  for  a  hid- 
ing-place, as  to  struggle  away,  and  forever  keep 
away,  from  the  fastness  of  fact  and  the  search- 
ing severity  of  truth. 

TWO   BEINGS   WHO   CAN  NOT   BE   ESCAPED. 

There  are  two  beings  from  whom  the  un- 
truthful man  can  not  conceal  his  guilt.  One 
is  himself.  At  the  moment  of  its  utterance  he 
is  conscious  of  the  falsehood.  Henceforth  it 
is  written  on  his  memory  that  he  has  lied.  He 
can  no  more  wipe  it  out  than  he  can  wipe  out 
the  wrinkles  on  his  brow  above  it,  or  shape 
into  infantile  openness  the  sinister  expression 
of  his  face.  There  it  is,  registered  on  his  mem- 
ory forever.  It  may  sink  away  from  the  con- 
stant glance  of  his  own  thought,  perhaps  it 
may  remain  unseen  for  years;  but  it  is  not 
gone.  The  leaves  of  more  recent  experiences 
are  but  laid  over  it.  Some  time,  with  light- 
ning swiftness,  these  leaves  may  be  flung  back; 
and  ihere^  as  in  years  long  before,  blazes  out  the 
record — falsifier^  liar.  Teach  your  children, 
therefore,  that,  if  the  untruthful  shall  escape  all 
I 


ISO  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

Time. 

the  rest  of  the  world,  he  shall  ever,  ever  be 
pursued  and  found  by  himself. 

The  other  being  from  whom  the  liar  Can  not 
hide  is  that  One  of  whom  it  is  said  in  the  sa- 
cred oracles,  "  He  that  planted  the  ear,  shall  he 
not  hear  ?  He  that  formed  the  eye,  shall  he 
not  see?  Shall  not  God  search  this  out?  For 
his  eyes  are  upon  the  ways  of  man,  and  he 
seeth  all  his  goings.  There  is  no  darkness, 
nor  shadow  of  death,  where  the  workers  of  in- 
iquity may  hide  themselves.  Hell  and  destruc- 
tion are  before  the  Lord;  how  much  more, 
then,  the  hearts  of  the  children  of  men !'' 


TIME. 

In  close  connection  with  action  is  another 
important  matter  of  discipline.  It  regards  the 
relation  of  time.  Movement  occupies  more  or 
less  duration  according  to  the  space  or  dis- 
tance passed  through,  or  according  to  the  num- 
ber of  motions,  as  in  those  indicated  by  the 
ticking  of  a  time-piece  or  in  the  pulsations  of 
the  blood.     It  is  supposed  that  there  is  a  spe- 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  131 

Time. 

cial  faculty  for  the  perception  of  time,  as  there 
is  in  the  case  of  other  qualities  and  relations 
in  nature.  There  are  those  who  can  tell  al- 
most any  hour  of  the  day  or  night  without 
clock  or  watch.  Such  persons  have  a  natu- 
rally keen  perception  of  time,  which  has  been 
increased  by  constant  use.  They  are  always 
to  a  moment  punctual  to  their  engagements. 
They  keep  nobody  waiting ;  that  is,  if  their 
moral  nature  is  as  true  as  their  one  intellectual 
ability.  Others  have  a  character  directly  the 
reverse.  Owing  to  a  constitutional  weakness, 
or  the  undeveloped  condition  of  this  faculty, 
they  have  but  little  consciousness  of  the  pass- 
ing moments.  In  early  life,  they  are  behind 
at  school,  unless  well  prompted  ,•  as  they  grow 
up,  they  are  behindhand  in  their  engagements, 
behind  in  their  business,  behind  at  public  meet- 
ings. Are  they  on  committees,  or  in  any  serv- 
ice associated  with  others — they  are  always 
tardy,  and  keep  their  fellow-officials  in  uneasy 
endurance.  Perhaps,  when  they  do  arrive, 
they  may  consume  much  time  in  needless  talk, 
through  the  same  unconsciousness  which  made 
them  late. 


132  THE   CULTURE   OF   THE 

Time  in  talk.  Public  occasions. 

TIME   IN  TALK. 

Some  persons  are  particularly  unconscious 
of  time  in  conversation.  They  will  spend  the 
whole  space  allotted  to  the  call  of  a  friend  on 
some  casual  topic  uninteresting  and  tedious  to 
the  hearer,  who  may  wish  to  touch  on  subjects 
more  accordant  with  his  tastes,  or  on  Vhich  he 
came  especially  to  confer.  Cases  are  not  infre- 
quent in  which  speakers,  who  had  been  ap- 
pointed, together  with  others,  to  address  an  au- 
dience, have  appropriated  to  themselves  nearly 
the  whole  time  of  the  occasion.  An  opening 
speech  has  been  known  to  consume  almost  the 
whole  evening. 

PUBLIC  OCCASIONS. 

Again :  how  often  are.  the  movements  of  va- 
rious public  occasions  tediously  delayed  by  a 
few  persons,  and,  indeed,  by  some  one  individ- 
ual having  the  direction!  So  common  are 
such  delays  that  people  hardly  expect  any 
thing  better ;  yet  they  are  obliged  to  observe 
the  appointed  hour,  or  they  might  possibly 
forego  the  profit  of  the  occasion.     Thus  some- 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  133 

Punctuality  as  to  promises. 

times  the  precious  hours  of  thousands  are  irre- 
trievably lost  through  the  neglect  of  a  few  tar- 
dy officials.  If  these  thousands  of  lost  hours 
were  aggregated  into  one  amount,  and  their 
worth  to  industry  estimated,  the  waste  would 
appear  enormous. 

PUNCTUALITY  AS  TO  PROMISES. 

There  are  other  cases  in  which  the  pinch  of 
punctuality  is  not  sufficiently  felt,  and  disap- 
pointment and  inconvenience  may  annoy,  and 
possibly  much  pecuniary  loss  be  incurred.  For 
instance,  how  often  mechanics  and  other  pro- 
ducers engage  to  furnish  articles  by  a  certain 
date,  and  then  fail  of  accomplishment!  In  fact, 
through  all  the  circles  of  business,  promises  as 
to  time  are  frequently  broken  ;  hence  losses  of 
money,  or  comfort  at  any  rate,  of  good  feeling, 
and  perhaps  of  amicable  relations.  This  is  a 
matter  of  ordinary  experience.  The  fact  is, 
that  many  a  man,  in  promising  the  completion 
of  work  at  a  certain  day,  has  but  a  vague  idea 
of  the  time  necessary  for  the  performance.  He 
goes  by  guess.  His  judgment  as  to  time  and 
movement  has  not  been  cultivated.     Perhaps 


134  THE  CULTURE  OF  THE 

Disastrous  lack  of  promptitude. 

he  is  constitutionally  defective,  and  can  meas- 
ure days  and  hours  scarcely  much  better  than 
the  senseless  clock  with  its  machinery  askew. 

DISASTROUS  LACK  OF  PROMPTITUDE. 

In  human  affairs,  there  are  crosses  and  losses 
innumerable  and  incalculable  through  lack  of 
promptitude.  At  the  first  battle  of  Bull  Eun, 
the  long  delay  of  one  division  in  the  morning's 
march  was  an  incidental  cause  of  that  lament- 
able defeat.  Had  our  army  got  into  action  as 
early  as  was  intended  in  the  commander's  plan, 
a  decisive  victory  would  have  probably  been 
won  several  hours  before  those  re-enforcements 
arrived  which  turned  the  scale  in  favor  of  the 
enemy.  It  was  probably  a  miscalculation  as 
to  time  on  somebody's  part  which  prevented 
the  pontoon-bridges  from  reaching  Fredericks- 
burg coincidently  with  the  army,  and  thus  de- 
laying Burnside's  great  movement  and  leading 
to  ultimate  defeat.  History  records  numerous 
instances  of  similar  disasters. 


OBSERVING   FACULTIES.  135 

Early  attention  to  the  time-faculty. 

EARLY  ATTENTION  TO  THE  TIME-FACULTY. 

Now,  as  this  defect  as  to  time  is  often  a  con- 
stitutional deformity,  it  should  be  understood 
at  the  very  outset  of  education,  and  be  rem- 
edied by  the  most  assiduous  culture.  It  may 
be  discovered,  by  a  little  attention,  what  the 
native  capacity  of  children  is  in  this  respect. 
See  whether  they  are  prompt  at  school,  church, 
or  any  other  place,  at  the  appointed  moment. 
Note  whether  they  seem  to  lose  all  idea  of 
time  in  play  or  talk  when  some  pressing  duty 
is  before  them.  Should  there  appear  an  un- 
consciousness of  duration,  then  they  must  be 
watched,  and  trained  accordingly.  As  a  dis- 
ciplinary exercise,  they  may  be  put  in  many 
ways  to  the  exact  observation  of  time  in  the 
course  of  ordinary  duty.  In  some  affairs,  cer- 
tain operations  require  a  certain  measurable 
period  of  time  for  their  accomplishment.  The 
usual  routine  of  every  day  in  household  or 
farm  matters  is  divided  into  several  parts  ap- 
pertaining to  one  thing  and  another.  In  the 
course  of  experience  and  habit,  calculations  are 
very  readily  made  in  respect  to  the  quantity 


136  THE   CULTURE   OF   THE 

Help  from  the  time-piece. 

of  time  demanded  by  each,  so  that  every  thing 
may  be  attended  to  and  finished  in  order.  But 
the  young  generally  need  some  special  disci- 
pline before  they  can  accurately  adjust  one 
thing  to  another  in  their  engagements.  Some 
require  very  much  care  for  the  purpose.  If 
they  should  be  neglected  in  this  matter  by  the 
first  parental  educators,  they  would  be  likely 
to  go  through  the  whole  subsequent  life,  con- 
fused themselves,  and  confusing  others.  Innu- 
merable people  continue  all  their  days  in  this 
unfortunate  predicament,  and  just  from  the 
lack  of  forethought  and  discipline. 

HELP  FROM  THE  TIME-PIECE. 

Accustom,  therefore,  your  children  to  notice 
particularly  the  hours,  the  half  hours,  and  even 
the  minutes  occupied  in  any  regular  work  or 
duty.  Let  it  be,  however,  insisted  on  that  per- 
formance shall  be  thorough  and  without  flut- 
tering haste.  In  this  way  they  will  learn  how 
to  portion  out  time  to  its  several  uses.  They 
will  be  educated  into  a  substantial  and  reliable 
judgment  as  to  the  seasons  of  regular  duty. 

There  are  occasional  transactions  which  also 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  137 

Measuring  time  by  the  sun. 

may  well  be  made  lessons.  In  doing  errands 
at  a  store,  or  a  neighbor's,  or  any  where  else, 
let  the  time  of  going  and  coming  at  ordinary 
speed  be  carefully  noted.  As  children  are 
fond  of  special  exercises  if  they  be  made  agree- 
able, let  them  guess  how  long  it  will  take  to 
walk  or  run  a  certain  distance  and  back  again, 
or  to  make  a  certain  number  of  motions  with 
the  feet  or  hands  in  imitation  of  work,  as  in 
the  Kinder -garten  plays.  Suppose  any  new 
work  is  to  be  undertaken :  let  there  be  guesses 
as  to  the  time  occupied.  Indeed,  no  matter 
what  the  operation  is,  it  will  serve  to  discipline 
the  young  to  mark  time  with  precision,  and  to 
form  habits  of  adjusting  movements  to  move- 
ments with  an  economical  accuracy,  which  shall 
be  a  lifelong  benefit  to  themselves  and  to  every 
body  who  has  to  do  with  them. 

MEASURING  TIME  BY  THE  SUN. 

It  is  a  good  plan,  furthermore,  to  have  chil- 
dren measure  time  by  the  place  and  the  prog- 
ress of  the  sun.  Let  them  guess  the  time  of 
day  by  the  sun's  position  in  the  sky,  and  then 
refer  to  the  time-piece  to  see  how  near  the  pre- 


138  THE  CULTURE   OF  THE 

Measuring  time  by  the  sun. 

cise  moment  they  have  hit.  Let  such  an  exer- 
cise be  pursued  till  the  hour  of  day,  at  any 
place  of  the  sun,  may  be  quite  accurately  de- 
termined. A  similar  course  might  be  pursued 
in  respect  to  the  moon  and  the  stars,  for  the 
sake  of  a  more  thorough  education  of  the  fac- 
ulty, and  perhaps  for  occasional  and  valuable 
use  in  emergencies  that  might  arise.  Indeed, 
the  first  idea  of  time  came  from  the  regular 
movements  of  the  heavenly  bodies.  Hence 
originated  those  divisions  of  duration  which 
are  named  in  the  languages,  and  govern  the 
doings  of  all  the  world.  These  phenomena  of 
the  heavens  perpetually  teach  and  remind  man- 
kind of  the  importance  of  method  or  economy 
in  the  use  of  time.  No  lesson  pertaining  to 
life's  practical  affairs  is  inculcated  on  a  grander 
scale  than  this.  It  is  written  on  the  expanse  of 
the  firmament.  It  is  illustrated  by  revolving 
globes.  Parents,  shall  this  wisdom,  so  might- 
ily and  momentously  vouchsafed,  be  lost  to 
your  children  because  you  fail  to  interpret  it 
to  their  understandings  and  impress  it  on  their 
hearts  ? 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  139 

Order.  A  special  faculty. 


O  E  D  E  E. 

In  the  works  of  God  there  is  a  certain  order, 
or  methodical  arrangement,  which  is  best  adapt- 
ed to  the  end  for  which  they  were  made.  Not 
6nly  organic  forms  of  matter,  but  the  opera- 
tions by  which  they  accomplish  their  uses,  ex- 
hibit this  perfect  adaptation  of  one  thing  to 
another,  and  of  means  to  ends.  Thus  they 
give  an  all -important  lesson  to  man  for  his 
own  works  and  ways.  In  human  affairs,  by 
a  similar  systematization,  the  greatest  good  is 
brought  to  pass. 

A  SPECIAL  FACULTY. 
It  is  supposed  that  there  is  a  special  mental 
faculty  which  takes  cognizance  of  order.  It 
gives  to  the  individual  the  ability  to  notice 
and  appreciate  it  in  things  around,  and  also 
the  ability  to  do  things,  and  keep  things  him- 
self, according  to  the  same  rule.  There  are 
sometimes  wide  differences  between  one  per- 
son and  another  as  to  the  native  strength  of 
this   faculty.     To    be    convinced   of  this,  we 


140  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

A  special  faculty. 

have  but  to  recall  our  experiences  with  vari- 
ous people.  One  has  a  place  for  every  thing, 
and  keeps  every  thing  in  its  own  place.  Such 
a  one  is  thoroughly  systematic  in  business. 
That  thing  is  done  first  which  in  good  judg- 
ment should  come  first.  He  knows  when  his 
work  is  completed.  There  are  no  hurried 
runnings  or  flurried  huddlings  to  finish  up 
what  was  supposed  to  be  already  finished. 
With  him,  "  done"  means  done^  and  is  truly  so. 
His  anticipated  leisure  is  not  all  cut  up  or  cut 
short  in  the  least  by  his  own  neglects.  As 
far  as  depends  on  himself,  he  is  always  sure  of 
time  for  pastime.  Just  like  the  sun  that  reg- 
ularly shines  on  him,  he  knows  his  exact 
path,  and  his  exact  place  in  that  path,  at  every 
hour  from  morning  until  evening;  and  then 
he  knows  when  his  day  is  done,  as  the  sun 
knows  his  going  down. 

How  entirely  difierent  from  this  is  the  con- 
stitutional character  and  prevalent  habits  of 
another  person !  Indeed,  how  many  there  are 
who,  as  to  a  systematic  disposition  of  things, 
are  about  as  much  to  be  calculated  on  as  the 
dust  blown    and  tossed  by  the  wind !     They 


OBSERVING   FACULTIES.  141 

How  to  discipline  the  faculty. 

can  not  calculate  on  themselves.  They  are 
disturbed  by  tendencies  which  have  crept  into 
their  natures  from  some  progenitor:  so  these 
tendencies  impel  them  to  and  fro,  up  and  down, 
evermore,  because  no  educating  hand  came  in 
good  season  to  the  rescue. 

Such  being  the  contingencies  of  poor  hu- 
man nature,  they  should  be  looked  after  with- 
out fail,  and  right  early.  The  educator  should 
understand  the  child's  native  mark  of  ability 
to  appreciate  order  and  conform  to  its  laws. 
It  can  soon  be  seen  whether  much  attention 
shall  be  required.  Be  the  faculty  stronger  or 
weaker,  it  should  be  put  to  its  use,  and  conse- 
quently under  discipline,  the  same  as  the  other 
intellectual  powers.  The  parent's  loving  heart 
will  be  glad  at  an  easy  task ;  and  the  same 
heart,  together  with  a  quickening  conscience, 
will  prompt  to  perseverance  and  insure  success 
in  the  more  difl&cult  case. 

HOW  TO  DISCIPLINE  THE  FACULTY. 

Let  us  now  consider  what  a  child  may  be 
put  upon  quite  early  in  the  way  of  training  the 
faculty  of  order. 


142  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

How  to  discipline  the  faculty. 

I  once  knew  a  child,  not  more  than  nine 
months  old,  who  was  disturbed  and  uncom- 
fortable when  some  prominent  article  in  the 
room,  as  a  table,  work-stand,  or  chair  was  not 
in  its  accustomed  place.  He  would  point  with 
his  finger,  together  with  a  significant — indeed, 
an  imploring  expression  of  his  eye,  to  the  thing 
in  its  irregular  position.  This  child,  no  doubt, 
possessed  the  faculty  of  order  in  very  strong 
constitutional  development.  But  we  may  in- 
fer from  the  instance  that  children,  on  the 
average,  may,  in  this  respect,  be  quite  early 
trained  to  strength  and  accuracy.  A  child 
who  only  creeps  might  be  set  to  the  use  of 
pushing  a  displaced  chair  into  its  position  in 
line  with  the  other  chairs.  When  he  shall  get 
fairly  upon  his  feet,  he  might  have  a  care,  ac- 
cording to  strength,  that  any  article  of  furni- 
ture in  the  room,  when  out  of  place,  should  be 
put  right.  Such  a  charge  would  be  not  only 
a  discipline  in  the  plan  of  the  parent,  but  an 
actual  pleasure  in  the  idea  of  a  child.  He 
wants  to  move ;  he  can  not  bear  to  be  still :  if 
he  can  do  things  to  a  certain  end  like  others, 
and  especially  if  he  can  gratify  others  by  his 
activities,  he  is  in  his  life's  delight. 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  143 

Care  of  playthings  and  clothes. 

CARE  OF  PLAYTHINGS  AND  CLOTHES. 

Accustom  a  child  to  take  the  best  possible 
care  of  his  own  playthings — to  have  a  special 
place  for  them  when  not  in  use.  They  should 
never  be  thrust  confusedly  down,  and  lie  in  a 
jumble,  as  so  often  happens,  but  be  laid  by 
with  as  much  regard  for  convenient  arrange- 
ment and  neatness  as  any  implement  of  adult 
industry  should  be  put  away,  each  where  it 
belongs.  This  order  about  playthings  will  be 
an  important  preparation  for  order  in  the  work- 
things  of  after  life. 

Still  farther:  let  children  be  educated  to  keep 
their  own  clothes  in  the  best  possible  disposure 
in  the  drawer,  chest,  or  closet,  or  wherever 
they  may  be  placed.  Let  each  article,  how- 
ever small,  have  its  own  particular  position, 
where,  if  need  be,  it  might  be  found  in  the 
dark. 

Their  clothes,  on  being  taken  off  for  the 
night,  should  be  put  in  a  certain  definite  and 
appropriate  place ;  not  here  at  one  time,  and 
there  at  another,  but  in  the  best  position  for 
airing;  and  each  article  in  such  a  manner  as 


144  THE   CULTURE   OF   THE 

Household  matters. 

to  be  most  easily  come  at,  even  without  light. 
Thus,  in  the  case  of  fire  and  the  necessity 
of  quick  escape,  whether  at  home  or  abroad, 
whether  at  the  house  of  a  friend  or  at  a  strange 
hotel,  the  clothes  could  at  least  be  snatched  by 
the  hand,  if  there  should  not  be  time  to  put 
them  on.  By  an  orderly  habit  of  this  sort, 
thousands  in  the  conflagrations  of  the  past 
would  not  have  been  driven  almost  naked 
from  the  burning  into  opposite  elements,  which 
diseased  them  perhaps  for  life  by  their  inclem- 
encies. 

HOUSEHOLD   MATTERS. 

When  children  shall  be  old  enough  to  assist 
in  household  affairs  or  other  duties,  it  is  of 
much  consequence  that  they  should  do  every 
thing  according  to  that  exact  succession  of  op- 
erations by  which  any  kind  of  work  can  be 
most  speedily  and  thoroughly  accomplished. 
Days  and  weeks,  and,  in  a  long  life,  even 
months,  are  lost  to  some  because  the  precise 
firstly,  secondly,  thirdly,  etc.,  are  not  linked  into 
habit.  The  buzzing,  clattering,  rumbling  fac- 
tories of  all  sorts  might  instruct  such  wasters ; 


OBSERVING   FACULTIES,  145 

Boys. 

for  here  must  be  a  certain  beginning,  a  regular 
progress,  and  a  definite  and  sure  completion. 

Early  and  fixed  habits  of  this  sort  will  have 
great  influence  on  their  own  industrial  condi- 
tions and  success  in  the  far  future.  In  the 
case  of  girls,  the  practice  of  order  can  not  be 
too  early  commenced,  and  it  should  never  be 
intermitted.  They  grow  up  right  in  the  midst 
of  those  matters  and  things,  the  like  of  which 
is  to  make  their  own  chief  duty  as  wives  and 
mothers.  Laxity  of  order  in  girlhood,  unre- 
formed  then,  will  run  very  probably  a  disturb- 
ing force  through  all  their  housekeeping  fu- 
ture. 

BOYS. 

In  the  case  of  boys,  they  may  be  put  to  ap- 
prenticeships in  which  there  is  a  necessity  for 
a  certain  order,  as  in  mechanical  trades  and  the 
use  of  machinery.  They  may  be  compelled 
to  be  systematic  in  their  vocations  to  a  certain 
extent,  yet  in  other  affairs  they  may  fall  into 
exceeding  laxity  and  confusion.  Whatever, 
therefore,  they  have  to  do,  within  or  around 
the  house,  should  be  performed  with  regular- 
K 


146  THE  CULTURE   OF  THE 

Neatness. 

ity  and  precision;  not  only  because  it  is  best 
for  the  occasion,  but  because  it  will  be  a  valu- 
able discipline  toward  their  future. 

NEATNESS. 

Personal  neatness  comes  under  this  head  of 
order.  This,  with  some  constitutions,  will  be 
found  to  require  much  training  and  discipline. 
There  are  children  who,  from  a  native  instinct, 
have  a  strong  abhorrence  of  any  soiling  of 
their  persons  or  clothes.  They  are  early  quite 
sensible  of  any  lack  of  neatness  about  a  room. 
Others  are  much  the  reverse.  These  seem  to 
enjoy  dirt  and  disorder  as  much  as  others  do 
the  best  condition  of  things.  These  disorderly 
natures  must  be  early  looked  to,  and  continu- 
ally watched  as  they  go  along  up,  that,  through 
mere  discipline,  they  may  have  that  habit  of 
neatness  which  will  be  necessary  for  the  com- 
fort and  satisfaction  of  others,  if  not  for  their 
own.  Many  a  man,  slovenly  in  his  person 
and  in  his  business,  many  an  untidy  woman 
and  housekeeper,  might  have  been  blessed  with 
at  least  average  habits  of  neatness  had  they 
been  properly  disciplined  in  their  early  .homes. 


OBSERVING   FACULTIES.  147 

Neatness. 

Such  children  should  be  set  particularly  to 
put  and  keep  things  in  order  about  a  house  or 
the  surroundings.  If  any  thing  should  be  out 
of  place,  they,  above  all  others,  should  be  set 
to  put  it  in  place.  If  they  must  go,  in  case  of 
need,  up  into  the  garret,  down  into  the  cellar, 
to  some  distant  out-house,  or  away  into  a  field, 
so  much  the  better.  The  farther  they  shall 
have  to  run,  the  more  impressive  and  profit- 
able the  practical  lesson.  This  sort  of  task 
should  be  made  an  imperative  duty,  to  be  con- 
tinued as  long  as  is  necessary.  By  this  dis- 
cipline, such  faulty  organizations  will  be  forced 
into  the  desirable  habits,  even  against  their 
own  natures. 

There  is  a  neatness  in  work,  and  in  the  way 
of  doing  a  thousand  little  things,  which  many 
people,  for  the  lack  of  early  education,  do  not 
possess.  They  will  drop  and  slop,  spill  and 
spatter,  in  every  direction,  simply  because  they 
are  not  trained  to  steadiness  of  hand,  careful- 
ness of  the  foot,  or  quick  observation  of  the 
eye.  Pains  and  perseverance  with  such  chil- 
dren will  save  much  trouble  nnder  the  parent- 
al roof,  and  will  prevent  them,  doubtless,  from 


148  THE   CULTURE   OF   THE 

An  appeal. 

innumerable  discomforts  and  a  thousand  cha- 
grins in  their  own  future  home.  But  let  it  be 
especially  remembered  that  example  will  be 
unspeakably  more  powerful  than  precept.  The 
young  will  hardly  practise  order  amid  the  sur- 
rounding confusion  of  their  elders.  The  dis- 
order in  which  they  have  been  brought  up, 
and  to  which  they  have  been  from  the  earliest 
accustomed,  is  quite  likely  to  be  the  earliest 
and  habitual  experience  of  their  own  rising 
families,  and  to  become,  possibly,  the  unprofit- 
able inheritance  of  generations  still  beyond. 

AN  APPEAL. 

Parents!  for  your  own  sakes  in  the  dear 
home ;  for  the  sake  of  loved  children  in  their 
future  abodes  and  vocations,  and  for  the  sake 
of  that  common  usefulness  which  every  one 
owes  to  his  kind ;  for  the  sake  of  some  higher 
and  wider  good  your  son  or  daughter  may  be 
providentially  called  to  accomplish,  do  not  omit 
a  duty  comparatively  so  easy  as  the  one  now 
enjoined.  Train  your  young  families  to  that 
methodical  arrangement,  to  that  best  order 
which  is  so  necessary  to  give  to  art  and  indus- 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  149 

An  appeal. 

try,  and  to  all  virtuous  endeavors,  the  highest 
success.  By  such  a  habit,  work  that  must  be 
done,  however  coarse,  may  be  done  in  a  way 
which  is  not  only  the  shortest  and  the  easiest, 
but  which  may  have  even  something  like  a 
gracefulness  about  it.  By  this,  the  humblest 
task  may  have  an  adornment. 

The  inferior  animals,  each  after  its  kind,  are 
orderly  by  instinct,  and  might  instruct  the  in- 
telligences put  over  them  in  dominion.  In- 
animate nature,  close  by  and  all  around,  teach- 
es those  who  labor  in  its  midst  the  same  les- 
son. How  instructive  are  soil,  water,  air,  heat, 
and  light,  as  they  work  and  build  up  bloom- 
ing and  fruitful  vegetation !  The  same  wis- 
dom comes  from  the  far -silent  heavens:  with 
a  power  mightier  than  any  human  speech,  they 
proclaim  the  necessity  of  system.  They  show 
forth  the  beauty,  the  majesty,  the  divine  per- 
fectness  of  order,  while  they  declare  the  glory 
of  God. 


160  THE   CULTURE  OF  THE 


CONCLUSION. 

Other  specific  topics  belong  to  the  subject 
of  these  suggestions,  and  might  properly  have 
been  considered.  But  this  division  of  the  vol- 
ume has  been  extended  much  beyond  the  orig- 
inal design.  It  is  hoped  that  the  patience  of 
readers  will  hold  out  for  some  closing  thoughts, 
which  may  still  farther  elucidate  and  confirm 
the  theory  presented. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  majority  of 
mankind  do  not  begin  to  study  specifically 
and  minutely  the  substances  on  which  they 
are  to  operate  through  all  their  industrial  lives 
until  they  get  into  apprenticeship  or  into  ac- 
tual business.  Then  there  must  be  disadvan- 
tage and  loss,  for  a  time,  in  proportion  to  the 
ignorance.  In  some  cases,  this  ignorance  con- 
tinues quite  palpably  and  injuriously  through 
all  their  vocational  course.  Now  the  training 
which  has  been  indicated  is  a  process  of  fitting 
one,  in  a  degree,  for  all  sorts  of  business  what- 
ever— a  process  begun  with  the  very  opening 
of  the  eyes  and  the  putting  forth  of  the  hand. 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  151 

Conclusion. 

Indeed,  Nature  is  continually  striving  to  edu- 
cate the  perceptive  faculties,  and  would  really 
double  and  quadruple  their  development  and 
attainments  if  we  would  let  her  have  her  own 
methods,  and  lend  her  a  helping  hand  amid  the 
multitude  of  objects  which  might  confuse  the 
young  learner's  attention. 

There  are  certain  individuals  whose  peculiar 
organization  will  make  them  sharp -sighted; 
will  place  things,  and  all  their  qualities,  before 
them  just  as  they  are,  in  spite  of  the  distract- 
ing circumstances  of  number,  variety,  and  even 
disorder;  but  these  are  comparatively  few. 
The  majority  need  help  and  showing,  that  the 
most  may  be  made  of  the  materials  around. 
This  must  be  evident  from  the  exercises  in 
objects  and  qualities  which  have  been  here 
proposed ;  for  how  few,  without  advice,  would 
pursue  these  matters  in  the  best  way,  and  to 
the  most  profitable  extent !  Indeed,  how  has 
the  whole  world  gone  blundering  along  with 
the  idea  that  education  consists  in  words — 
words  wide  apart  from  the  things  to  which 
they  belong !  It  has  scarcely  occurred  to  edu- 
cators generally  that,  in  presenting  things  to 


152  THE  CULTUKE   OF  THE 

How  a  good  judgment  comes. 

the  learner,  they  must  almost  necessarily  pre- 
sent words  —  nouns,  adjectives,  and  verbs — 
which  would  stick  to  these  things  like  their 
color  in  the  daytime,  or  as  their  temperature 
does  both  day  and  night. 

HOW  A  GOOD  JUDGMENT  COMES. 

There  is  a  common  saying  about  certain  in- 
dividuals something  like  this:  "He  has  an 
excellent  judgment;  he  is  remarkable  for  his 
judgment.'^  Now  what  is  meant?  It  is  this: 
He  knows  what  things  are  in  their  qualities 
and  relations,  and  he  knows  what  to  do  with 
them  to  the  best  possible  advantage.  Innu- 
merable instances  in  the  various  avocations  of 
life  might  be  adduced  in  illustration.  How 
common  it  is  for  a  citizen  to  be  called  on  to 
appraise  the  goods  of  a  neighboring  estate,  or, 
as  a  public  officer,  to  make  valuations  of  prop- 
erty for  taxes !  In  such  cases,  a  practical  knowl- 
edge of  commodities  is  all-important.  We  may 
take  the  most  striking  and  instructive  instances 
from  these  very  times.  Millions  of  money  are 
lost  to  the  nation  4;hrough  the  ignorance  of 
commissaries,  quarter-masters,  contractors,  and 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  158 

Vivid  recollections  important. 

other  providers  for  our  armies,  through  the 
lack  of  that  early  and  continued  education  of 
observing  faculties  which  has  now  been  ad- 
vised. If  the  loss,  for  the  most  part,  comes  from 
any  other  cause,  it  must  be  from  a  criminal  dis- 
honesty, deserving  the  punishment  of  a  peni- 
tentiary from  a  cheated  country. 

VIVID  RECOLLECTIONS  IMPORTANT. 

Furthermore,  a  great  deal  of  business  is  done 
in  the  way  of  trade  without  the  actual  presence 
and  inspection  of  the  commodity  to  be  bought 
and  sold.  In  this  case,  much  is  to  be  trusted  to 
the  honesty  or  honor  of  the  seller.  Neverthe- 
less, a  great  deal  depends,  on  both  sides,  upon 
the  actual  knowledge  of  things  previously  ac- 
quired. Without  such  knowledge,  the  buy- 
er must  take  the  seller's  word;  and  without 
this  knowledge,  the  seller  himself  may  unin- 
tentionally mislead ;  for  in  both  of  their  mem- 
ories and  conceptions  there  may  lie  a  confused 
mass  of  things,  designated  by  certain  names. 
As  for  the  absolute  qualities,  fitnesses,  and  val- 
ues, it  may  be  the  merest  guess-work  with 
both.     Or,  if  but  one  of  the  parties  is  ignorant, 


154  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

Distinguished  men. 

he  must  go  by  guess,  or  trust  implicitly  to  the 
integrity  of  the  other.  Now,  let  a  thorough 
acquaintance  with  objects  and  their  qualities 
be  obtained,  and  there  they  lie  in  the  memo- 
ry in  all  distinctness.  There  is  no  confusion. 
The  mind's  eye  sees  similar  commodities  in  the 
distant  ship  or  warehouse,  or  any  where  else, 
about  as  clearly  as  the  physical  eye  would  see 
them  lying  beneath  the  face.  The  memory, 
as  a  general  rule,  performs  its  oflfice  well  or  ill 
just  in  proportion  as  the  original  perceptions 
are  disciplined  and  developed ;  so  that,  in  a 
large  portion  of  business  transactions,  what  is 
good  judgment  depends  on  distinct  and  accu- 
rate recollections. 

DISTINGUISHED   MEN. 

The  histories  of  many  distinguished  persons 
show  that  a  culture  quite  independent  of  pre- 
scribed educational  forms  made  them  useful 
and  eminent.  Among  the  extraordinary  men 
of  our  own  country  are  those  whose  literary 
advantages  were  exceedingly  limited.  They 
simply  exercised  their  naked  faculties  on  what- 
ever came  before  them,  or  lay  in  any  provi- 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  155 

Distinguished  men. 

dential  line  of  duty.  They  might  have  had 
some  one  power,  like  individuality  or  eventu- 
ality, in  uncommon  strength.  This,  spontane- 
ously leading  the  way,  might  have  brought 
concomitant  powers  into  action  and  increasing 
ability.  All  the  faculties  were  employed  upon 
the  objects,  the  events,  the  realities  of  the  pres- 
ent world  and  state  of  things,  while  their  priv- 
ileged contemporaries  were  engaged  on  ab- 
stract books  and  chapters,  sentences  and  words. 
Though  these  students  of  real  life  might  be 
quite  inaccurate  in  the  nice  uses  of  language, 
yet  they  obtained  the  weightier  matters  of  a 
useful  education.  Such  men,  nevertheless,  gen- 
erally possess  an  adequate  ability  at  expres- 
sion, as  far  as  it  is  necessary  simply  to  convey 
their  own  ideas.  Indeed,  these  observers  and 
doers  have  often  a  remarkable  facility  of 
speech.  This  comes  from  the  very  nature  of 
their  education.  They  somehow  pick  up  words 
appropriate  to  all  the  things,  qualities,  relations, 
actions,  and  transactions  within  their  notice, 
and  those  words  are  presented  naturally  and 
easily  with  the  subjects  to  which  they  belong. 
If  there  be  any  defect  at  all,  it  is  that  of  some 


156  THE   CULTURE   OF  THE 

Books. 

little  point  which  they  might  have  rectified 
themselves,  as  many  do,  by  a  strenuous  and 
determined  self-discipline.  The  strongest  men 
in  our  nation,  the  centres  of  momentous  circles 
of  aftairs,  may  be  excelled  by  school-girls  of 
fifteen  as  to  verbal  and  grammatical  niceties. 
The  ability  adequate  to  the  presidency  of  the 
nation  or  to  a  cabinet  secretaryship  does  not 
depend  on  verbalities  obtained  at  school  or  col- 
lege, but  on  an  acquaintance  with  things,  and 
actions,  and  principles  —  a  knowledge  of  indi- 
vidual, social,  municipal,  civil,  military,  nation- 
al, and  international  realities.  Washington's 
success  at  the  head  of  armies  and  administra- 
tions was  the  result  of  that  sound  judgment 
which  had  been  matured  amid  present  sub- 
stances, passing  events,  and  pressing  emergen- 
cies. ♦ 

BOOKS. 

Let  it  not  be  supposed,  by  what  precedes, 
that  an  unwarrantable  discarding  of  books  is 
advised.  It  is  simply  meant  that  books  shall 
not  come  into  use  so  early,  so  numerously,  and 
so  unintermittedly  as  to  stifle  and  dwarf  the 


OBSERVING  FACULTIES.  157 


faculties  instead  of  aiding  to  strengthen  them. 
The  distinguished  men  alluded  to  improved 
themselves  by  reading  as  they  had  opportuni- 
ty ;  and,  in  one  respect,  they  read  with  a  pe- 
culiar advantage.  Their  preliminary  experi- 
ence with  the  world's  naked  realities  enabled 
them  to  take  hold  of  language  with  a  strong, 
effective  grasp,  as  if  words  were  palpable  han- 
dles to  the  meanings  underneath.  They  la- 
bored, however,  under  many  and  great  disad- 
vantages. Their  improvement  came  without 
system — now  and  then — here  a  little,  and  there 
a  little. 

With  our  present  command  of  means,  we 
should  seek  for  our  children  that  education 
which  begins  exactly  in  the  right  place  and  at 
the  right  time;  which  proceeds  also  in  the  best 
order,  and  in  those  directions,  and  to  that  ex- 
tent, which  shall  make  the  largest  and  fullest 
measure  of  good. 

Dear  fellow  -  educators !  with  what  gentle 
touches  of  nature's  elements,  as  with  his  own 
tender  fingers,  does  the  infinite  Parent  awaken 
his  immortal  offspring  to  consciousness  and 
thought !     Why  shall  we  not  follow  these  di- 


158  THE  OBSERVING  FACULTIES. 

Books. 

vine  intimations  ?  Be  assured  that  they  run, 
with  unbroken  continuance,  into  grand  rules 
of  development  and  great  infallible  signs  along 
the  way  of  everlasting  progress. 


A  LETTER  FROM  THE  AGENT  OF  THE  MASSA- 
CHUSETTS BOARD  OF  EDUCATION. 


"  Rev.  Waeeen  Bueton  : 

"My  deae  Sie, — Your  hints  on ' Object-teach- 
ing' will  accomplish  much  good,  if  they  lead  par- 
ents to  the  early  and  proper  discipline  of  the 
observing  faculties  of  their  children.  So  far  as 
relates  to  intellectual  training,  I  heartily  concur 
in  the  sentiment  of  Ruskin, '  The  more  I  think  of 
it,  I  find  this  conclusion  more  impressed  upon  me, 
that  the  greatest  thing  a  human  soul  ever  does  in 
this  world  is  to  see  something,  and  tell  what  it 
saw  in  a  plain  way.  Hundreds  of  people  can  talk 
to  one  who  thinks,  but  thousands  can  think  to 
one  who  can  see,'' 

"  The  importance  and  methods  of  '  Object- 
teaching'  have  been  a  frequent  topic  of  my  lec- 
tures at  teachers'  institutes  and  normal  schools 
for  more  than  six  years.  The  system  is  gradual- 
ly working  its  way  into  our  schools,  and,  when  in 
skillful  hands,  with  the  happiest  results.  I  have 
spent  several  weeks  during  the  last  year  in  visit- 
ing the  best '  object-schools'  in  the  country,  espe- 
cially in  New  York,  Albany,  ISTew  Britain,  Conn., 


160  A  LETTER  FROM  THE  AGENT  OF  THE 

Toronto,  C.  W.,  and  Oswego,  N.  Y.  This  system 
has  been  more  fully  and  successfully  applied  in 
the  schools  of  the  latter  place  than  any  where 
else  in  this  country.  As  a  result,  the  primary 
schools  of  Oswego,  which  a  few  years  since  were 
in  a  low  condition,  have  been  raised  to  a  degree 
of  excellence  probably  not  surpassed,  if  equaled, 
in  this  country.  I  visited  all  the  schools  of  the 
city,  with  a  single  exception,  in  order  to  observe 
the  working  of  the  system  under  a  great  variety 
of  circumstances,  and  with  all  classes  of  children, 
the  rich  and  the  poor,  Germans,  French,  Irish, 
and  Scotch,  as  well  as  Americans.  So  celebrated 
have  these  schools  become,  that  Oswego  is  now  a 
sort  of  Mecca  for  educators  from  nearly  all  the 
loyal  states.  During  a  visit  of  less  than  two 
weeks  in  that  city,  I  observed  representatives 
present  from  several  distant  states,  including 
teachers,  committees,  and  superintendents.  This, 
I  was  told,  was  but  the  usual  number  of  visitors 
from  abroad.  While  I  should  dissent  from  some 
views  and  methods  there  adopted,  the  system,  as 
a  whole,  is,  in  my  judgment,  practical,  philosoph- 
ical, and  admirably  adapted  to  young  children. 

"  But  this  drill  ought  to  begin  long  before  the 
school  age.  The  parent  should  daily  give  train- 
ing-lessons in  common  things.  I  value  this  book 
as  one  designed  and  fitted  to  make  parents  '  ob- 
ject-teachers ;'  to  convince  them  that  the  facts 


MASSACHUSETTS  BOARD  OF  EDUCATION.    161 

and  objects  surrounding  the  child  in  every-day 
life  should  be  the  earliest  and  most  effective  in- 
struments in  developing  his  powers,  and  that  thus 
habits  of  close,  accurate,  and  exhaustive  observa- 
tion should  be  early  formed. 

"  BiRDSEY  G.  Northrop, 

"  Agent  Mass.  Board  of  Education.^' 

L 


NOTE. 

That  more  inviting  words  might  greet  readers  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  book,  this  preface-like  explanation  is  placed  at  the 
end.  Many  years  ago,  the  present  writer,  in  lecturing  on 
early  intellectual  culture,  together  with  moral  and  religious 
education,  earnestly  urged  the  discipline  of  the  observing 
faculties.  He  then  had  not  the  remotest  idea  that  this  disci- 
pline, as  an  indispensable  requisite,  would  be  so  long  neg- 
lected ;  for  it  was  at  that  time  practiced  in  European  schools, 
and  advocated  also  by  eminent  writers  in  our  own  country. 
More  than  twenty  years,  however,  have  elapsed  since  his 
first  humble  efforts  and  sanguine  expectations,  and  yet  but 
little  progress  comparatively' has  been  made  in  this  direc- 
tion. In  reflecting  on  this  great  educational  deficiency,  it 
came  forcibly  to  mind  that  a  much-needed  help  might  be 
rendered  to  the  family  and  the  school  by  publishing  some- 
thing similar  to  his  former  utterances.  The  lectures  alluded 
to  were  mostly  extemporaneous.  By  the  aid,  however,  of  a 
single  written  passage  which  makes  a  few  of  the  first  pages, 
together  with  some  brief  notes,  they  have  been  substantially 
recalled  to  memory,  and,  with  the  interspersion  of  fresh  mat- 
ter, they  constitute  the  body  of  this  work.  The  original  ex- 
temporaneous style  in  a  degree  ran  into  the  composition. 
This  will  account  for  occasional  looseness  of  construction 
and  every-day  phraseology,  which  it  is  hoped  will  be  rather 
agreeable  than  otherwise  to  the  majority  of  readers. 

W.B. 


OBJECT  TEACHING, 

AND  THE 

CULTURE  OF  THE  PERCEPTIVE  POWERS. 


From  the  American  Literary  Gazette  and  Publishers' 
Circular,  September  15th,  1864. 

"  There  is  no  royal  road  to  learning ;"  but  nei- 
ther is  it  necessary  that  the  acquisition  of  knowl- 
edge should  be  made  hateful  to  youth.  The  young 
raind  is  ready  enough  to  receive  information ;  it 
craves  facts,  but  it  requires  them  to  be  in  a  nutri- 
tive and  digestible  shape.  All  children  ask  ques- 
tions. Some  parents  endeavor,  with  more  or  less 
success,  to  satisfy  these  inquiries ;  others  turn  the 
inquirers  over  to  the  school-master,  holding  it  to 
be  his  duty  to  attend  to  the  brains,  and  the  pa- 
rents' to  care  merely  for  the  bodies  of  their  chil- 
dren. Yet  others  discourage  the  questioners. 
The  school-master,  unless  he  be  a  man  of  genius, 
is  apt  to  furnish  words  and  phrases,  where  the 
child  wants  facts  and  ideas;  therefore  schools 
are  so  often  hateful  and  unprofitable  to  the  most 
intelligent  of  the  children,  and  men  are  found  to 


166      OBJECT  TEACHING — THE   CULTURE 

declare  that  in  their  boyhood  they  learned  more 
out  of  than  in  school  hours. 

Within  a  few  years  an  important  improvement 
has  obtained  in  this  country  in  the  theory  of  edu- 
cation. Intelligent  and  thoughtful  teachers  ob- 
served the  pleasure  which  all  children  take  in  the 
observation  of  natural  objects;  they  noticed  that, 
while  spelling  and  reading  are  a  weariness,  the 
young  learners  never  tired  of  studying  the  varied 
and  interesting  objects  of  nature  which  surround 
them.  "Suppose  we  should  attempt  to  answer 
these  many  questions  of  the  children?"  they  said. 
"  Suppose  that,  instead  of  teaching  them  to  read 
in  dry  books,  conveying  no  useful  or  interesting  in- 
formation, we  should  provide  them  lessons  which 
should  gratify  their  desire  to  comprehend  the  na- 
ture and  fix  in  their  minds  the  shape  and  use  of 
the  various  natural  objects  which  so  excite  their 
curiosity  ?" 

Out  of  this  suggestion  has  arisen  quite  a  school 
literature — a  series  of  works  of  remarkable  merit, 
intended  to  help  parents  and  teachers  to  answer, 
instead  of  repressing,  the  inquiries  of  the  children, 
and  thus  to  foster  and  develop,  instead  of  discour- 
aging, the  burning  desire  for  real  knowledge. 

The  system  of  tuition  which  has  thus  grown  up 
is  rightly  called  "Object  Teaching."  It  aims  to 
satisfy  the  craving  of  the  child  or  youth  for  prac- 
tical information ;  it  recognizes  the  important  fact 


OF   THE   PEKCEPTIVE   POWERS.  167 

that  children  are  the  most  practical  of  beings,  who 
refuse  phrases,  and  demand  constantly /ac^5. 

"Object  Teaching"  did  not  originate  in  this 
country ;  it  has  been  practiced  in  Europe  in  the 
best  schools  for  many  years ;  but  the  most  com- 
plete literary  aids  have  been  furnished  by  Ameri- 
can teachers  and  authors,  and  this  from  the  rea- 
son that  while  common  school  education  is  uni- 
versal in  the  United  States,  the  great  mass  of  our 
youth  must  turn  early  to  trades  and  business  pur- 
suits, and  have  no  time,  after  they  leave  school, 
for  the  study  of  text-books. 

The  principle  of  "  Object  Teaching"  is,  there- 
fore, peculiarly  and  admirably  adapted  to  the  prac- 
tical, common -sense  character  of  the  American 
mind.  It  has  been  seized  upon  with  avidity  by 
parents  and  teachers ;  and  its  success  is  exempli- 
fied in  the  number  of  books  which  have  been  re- 
cently published,  either  directly  relating  to  the 
subject,  or  involving  the  use  of  its  principles. 
Sheldon  in  his  "  Manual  of  Elementary  Instruc- 
tion" and  his  "Model  Lessons  on  Objects," 
Wells  in  his  "  Graded  Schools,"  and  "  Lilien- 
THAL  and  Welch  in  their  "Object  Lessons,"  and 
several  other  writers,  have  endeavored  to  help 
the  teacher  to  correct  notions  of  "  Object  Teach- 
ing." But  among  the  series  of  works  bearing 
upon  the  subject,  those  of  Marcius  Willson,  E.  A. 
Calkins,  and  Worthington  Hooker  merit  special 


168      OBJECT  TEACHING — THE   CULTURE 

mention.  These  works,  published  by  Messrs.  Har- 
per &  Brothers,  and  got  up  with  great  care  and 
at  a  heavy  cost,  are  furnished  with  many  hundreds 
of  wood  engravings,  executed  in  the  best  style  of 
the  art,  and  especially  for  the  books  in  which  they 
appear ;  they  are  admirably  suited  to  the  use  of 
parents  as  well  as  teachers,  and  they  are  gradu- 
ated for  the  instruction  of  children  of  all  ages. 

Dr.  Hooker  remarks  in  the  preface  to  one  of 
his  excellent  series,  the  "  Child's  Book  of  Nature," 
that  "the  inquisitive  observation  of  children  is 
commonly  repressed  instead  of  being  encouraged 
and  guided.  The  chief  reason  for  this  unnatural 
course  is,  that  parents  and  teachers  are  not  in  pos- 
session of  the  information  which  is  needed  for  the 
guidance  of  children  in  the  observation  of  Nature. 
They  have  not  themselves  been  taught  aright,  and 
so  they  are  not  able  to  lead  others  aright.  In 
their  own  education  the  observation  of  Nature 
has  been  almost  entirely  excluded,  and  they  are 
therefore  unprepared  to  teach  a  child  in  regard 
to  the  simplest  natural  phenomena."  He  might 
justly  have  added  that  they  have  not  even  been 
taught  to  observe.  Most  men  see  without  per- 
ceiving, excepting  in  the  icase  of  those  objects 
with  which  they  are  most  intimately  connected 
by  business  pursuits.  Their  children  see  more  of 
all  objects  about  them  than  their  parents.  How 
phpuld  the  latter  be  able  to  guide  ^nd  instruct 


OF  THE   PERCEPTIVE   POWERS.  169 

this  faculty  of  minute  and  intelligent  observation, 
when  they  have  themselves  lost  it  ? 

Now  the  excellence  of  these  works  of  Hooker, 
Willson,  and  Calkins,  and  of  others  of  the  class, 
consists  in  this,  that  they  suggest  to  parents  and 
teachers  how  to  observe  natural  objects,  how  to 
call  the  attention  of  children  to  their  qualities  and 
parts,  how  to  explain  them,  or  cause  them  to  ex- 
plain themselves.  They  make  teaching  what  it 
ought  to  be,  a  pleasant  pastime,  rather  than  what 
it  too  often  is,  the  hopeless  drudgery  of  a  drill- 
master.  This  is  especially  true  of  the  two  "Man- 
uals of  Instruction  in  Object  Lessons,"  by  Pro- 
fessors Willson  and  Calkins,  works  which  may  be 
regarded  as  quite  a  boon  to  the  anxious  mother 
and  to  the  conscientious  teacher. 

Dr.  Hooker's  series,  beginning  with  the  now 
well-known  and  well-approved  "  Child's  Book  of 
Nature,"  and  including  a  "  Natural  History,"  a 
"First  Book  in  Chemistry,"  a  Chemistry  for  more 
advanced  pupils,  and  a  "Natural  Philosophy," 
and  soon  to  be  enriched  by  the  addition  of  a 
carefully  prepared  text-book  of  "Geology  and 
Mineralogy" — all  fully  and  carefully  illustrated — 
completes  a  library  of  School  and  Family  Text- 
books which  is  without  a  rival.  In  Dr.  Hook- 
er's, as  in  the  others,  the  labors  of  the  teacher  or 
parent  are  lightened  by  judicious  helps,  hints,  and 
suggestions;   the  instruction  is  conveyed  in  fa- 


170  OBJECT  TEACHING,  ETC. 

miliar  language,  and  the  aim  is  to  satisfy  the  in- 
telligent curiosity  of  the  child  or  youth,  and  teach 
him  to  observe  correctly  and  minutely,  and  en- 
courage him  to  investigate  the  mysteries  which 
surround  him.  With  the  help  of  these  books, 
question  -  asking  children  need  no  longer  be  a 
"bore"  and  "bother,"  and  parents  as  well  as 
teachers  will  find  it  an  easy  pleasure  to  gratify 
and  encourage  the  questioners,  whom  now  they 
too  often  repress. 


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PUBLISHED  BY 


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Lucretius. 

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^SCHYLUS. 


C^SAR. 

Sallust, 

ViRGILlUS. 

hoeatius. 

Cicero  de  Seneotutb  and 
De  Amicitia. 


EUIUPIDES.       8  V0l3. 

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ators. 
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Terence. 


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Sophocles. 

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Prices :  Primer,  30  cents ;  First  Reader,  45  cents ;  Second  Reader,  65 
cents ;  Third  Reader,  $1  00;  Fourth  Reader,  $1 50;  Fifth  Reader,  $2  00 ; 
Primaiy  Speller,  20  cents ;  Larger  Speller,  45  cents. 

"Willson's  Manual  of  Instruction  in  Object  Les- 
sons, in  a  Course  of  Elementary  Instruction.  Adapted  to  the  Use  of  the 
School  and  Family  Charts,  and  other  Aids  in  Teaching.  12mo,  Cloth, 
$1  50. 

"Willson's  Primary  Speller.  A  Simple  and  Pro- 
gressive Course  of  Lessons  in  Spelling,  with  Reading  and  Dictation  Exer- 
cises, and  the  Elements  of  Oral  and  Written  Compositions.    20  cents. 

"Willson's  Larger  Speller.  A  Progressive  Course  of 
Lessons  in  Spelling,  arranged  according  to  the  Principles  of  Orthoepy  and 
Grammar,  with  Exercises  in  Synonyms,  for  Reading,  Spelling,  and  Wri- 
ting; and  a  new  System  of  Definitions.  :3y  Marcius  Willson.  12mo, 
45  cents. 


WILLSON'S 
SCHOOL  AND  FAMILY  SERIES 

OP 

READERS  AND  SPELLERS. 


ALL  BE  A  UTIFULLY  ILL  USTRA  TED, 


WiLLSON'8  Pkimeb  (Introductory),  12mo,  48  pages,  107  cutSi 
Willbon's  Fikst  Reader,  12mo,  84  pages,  132  cuts. 

Willson's  Second  Reader,  12rao,  154  pages,  100  cuts; 

Willson's  Third  Reader,  12mo,  264  pages,  142  cuts. 

Willson's  Fouth  Reader,  12mo,  360  pages,  164  cuts. 

Willson's  Fifth  Reader,  12mo,  540  pages,  208  cuts; 


Willson's  Primary  Speller,  16mo,  80  pages,  56  cuts. 
Willson's  Larger  Speller,   12ino,  168  pages,  36  cuts; 

The  leading  objects  aimed  at  on  the  part  of  the  author  have  been  td 
construct  a  series  of  Readers  that  shall  not  only  present  the  very  best 
means  and  methods  of  teaching  Reading  as  an  Art,  but  which  shall 
also  contain  a  large  amount  of  Useful  and  Entertaining  Knowledge* 
For  a  full  description  of  the  Plan^  aims,  and  objects  of  Willson's  Read- 
era  and  Spellers,  with  specimen  pages,  notices,  testimonials,  &c.,  send 
for  our  Educational  Pamphlets^  which  will  be  forwarded,  free,  on  appli- 
cation. 

Willson's  Primary  Speller  contains  a  simple  and  progressive  course 
of  lessons  in  Spelling,  with  Reading  and  Dictation  Exercises,  and  the 
Elements  of  Oral  and  Written  Compositions.  Most  of  the  Spelling  Les- 
sons are  so  arranged  that  the  meaning  of  the  words  is  shown  by  their 
appropriate  use  in  sentences. 

Willson's  Larger  Speller  contains  not  only  a  progressive  course  of 
Lessons  in  Spelling,  arranged  on  a  new  method,  in  accordance  with  the 
principles  of  Orthoepy  and  Grammar^  but  also  numerous  Exercises  in 
Synonyms,  for  Reading,  Spelling,  and  Writing,  and  a  new  system  of 
Definitions. 

The  Success  of  Willson's  Readers. 

The  sticcess  of  the  Plan  adopted  in  this  series  is  unprecedented  in  the 
history  of  School-book  Literature.    Although  it  is  now  (January.,  18115) 


2      WUlson^s  Series  of  Readers  and  Spellers. 


but  little  more  than  four  yeaw  since  the  early  numbers  of  Willson's 
Keaders  were  first  published,  yet  these  neio  books  have  already  attained 
a  sale  second  to  only  two  (at  most)  of  the  old  series  of  Readers.  They 
have  already  been  officially  adopted  by  many  of  our  principal  cities,  by 
great  numbers  of  Town  and  County  Boards  of  Education,  and  by  several 
entire  States;  while  they  are  otherwise  known  and  used  throughout 
the  whole  country. 

In  Preparation. 

An  Intermediate  Second  Reader. 

An  Intermediate  TMrd  Reader. 

These  seem  to  be  required,  as  Intermediate  Readers.,  especially  in  the 
Public  Schools  of  many  of  our  cities,  where  the  grades  of  Reading  Classes 
are  more  numerous  than  in  most  country  schools. 

While  these  additions  to  the  series — intermediate  in  gradation  be- 
tween the  present  Second  and  Third,  and  Third  and  Fourth  Readers — 
will  keep  prominently  in  view  the  general  aims  and  objects  of  the  regu- 
lar series,  they  will  present  an  unusual  number  of  pieces  adapted  to  the 
greatest  variety  of  useful  rhetorical  exercises. 

I.  State  Adoptions. 

In  March,  1863,  the  State  of  Indiana  officially  adopted  Willson's 
Readers.  The  State  Board  of  Education,  consisting  of  the  Secretary  of 
State,  Auditor,  State  Treasurer,  Attorney-General,  and  the  Superintend- 
ent of  Public  Instruction,  say : 

*■'  The  books  and  charts  of  the  School  and  Family  Series,  by  Marcius 
Willson,  and  published  by  Harper  &  Brothers,  are  decided  improve- 
ments in  the  line  of  Educational  Agencies.  They  are  new  in  plan,  and 
new  in  the  application  of  Natural  Principles  to  the  art  of  instruction ; 
and  they  differ  widely  from  all  other  Charts  and  Readers  in  use  in  our 
schools.  But  new  though  they  are,  they  have  been  fairly  and  exten- 
sively tested  in  a  large  number  of  the  best-conducted  schools  of  the 
country  with  highly  satisfactory  results.  The  several  books  of  the  Se- 
ries of  Readers  are  not  only  appropriately  graded,  and  happily  adapted 
to  the  progress  of  the  pupil  in  the  art  of  reading,  but  they  introduce  to 
him  the  Natural  Sciences  in  so  elementary  and  pleasing  a  way,  that  their 
principles,  many  of  their  details,  and  a  tolerable  knowledge  of  their  ap- 
plication to  the  affairs  of  life,  are  acquired  while  learning  to  read.  The 
manner  in  which  the  whole  is  presented  is  as  interesting  as  the  matter 
is  instructive  and  profitable." 

In  May,  of  the  same  year,  the  State  of  Kansas  officially  adopted 
them.  The  following  is  from  the  published  Report  of  Hon.  Isaac  T. 
Goodnow,  State  Superintend  nt  of  Public  Instruction: 


Willsou's  Series  of  Headers  and  Spellers.     3 


"  Willson's  Readers  have  been  substituted  for  M'Guffey's.  This  is  a 
change  eminently  fit  to  be  made.  The  series  stands  head  and  shoulders 
above  all  others.    To  examine  these  Headers  is  to  be  convinced. 

"While  they  possess  all  the  excellences  of  other  Readers,  they  contain, 
in  the  most  attractive  form,  a  synopsis  of  Literature  and  Science,  illus- 
trated in  Harper's  best  style  with  beautiful  engravings,  which  ptesent 
to  the  eye,  on  the  Object  System,  the  subjects  of  the  lessons.  The  Nat- 
ural Sciences,  divested  of  technicalities,  enlivened  by  incident  and  anec- 
dote, and  adorned  by  poetic  seleccions,  are  here  presented  in  a  new  and 
attractive  light." 

In  a  late  Report  Mr.  Goodnow  says,  of  the  introduction  of  Willson's 
Readers,  '■'•  ^'ever  has  a  change  met  with  a  more  hearty  approval." 

In  May,  of  the  same  year,  the  State  of  California  officially  adopted 
them.  First,  the  State  Teachers'  Association  recommended  them  to  the 
state  Board,  by  the  following  vote:  For  Willson's  Readers,  115  votes; 
for  Sargent's,  13 ;  for  Parker  &  Watson's,  4.  The  State  Board,  of  which 
the  Governor  of  the  State  is  President,  and  the  State  Superintendent  is 
Secretary,  then  unanimously  adopted  them. 
The  State  Superintendent  says,  in  his  recently-published  Report : 
*'  No  other  books  adopted  are  destined  to  work  so  radical  a  change  for 
the  better.,  in  methods  of  instruction.,  as  Willson's  Readers.  They  are, 
in  my  opinion.,  the  most  valuable  books  that  can  be  placed  in  the  hands 
of  our  school-children.^' 

The  California  Teacher  of  July,  1864,  says:  "Willson's  Readers  and 
Speller  have  been  adopted  in  all  the  Public  Schools  of  San  Francisco,  su- 
supersediug  Sargent's.  Willson's  Readers  are  now  in  use  in  all  the 
schools  of  the  State,  with  the  exception  of  Sacramento  and  Stockton." 

In  April,  1864,  Willson's  Readers  were  officially  adopted  for  the  Tee- 

RLTOEY  OF  CtaH. 


Among  the  larger  cities  and  towns  which  have  already  officially  adopt- 
ed them  (several  exclusively)  for  use  in  their  Public  Schools,  are  New 
York,  Brooklyn,  Rochester:  Waterbury,  Litchfield,  New  Britain,  Con- 
necticut :  Deerfield,  Groton,  Edgartown,  East  Needham,  Cambridge^ 
Madsachusetts :  Newport,  Rhode  Island:  Philadelphia,  Harrisburg : 
BiUimore,  Hagerstown,  Maryland  :  Wilmington :  New  Brunswick, 
Plainfield,  Hudson  City,  Paterson,  New  Jersey:  Galesburg,  Pekin, 
Carrollton,  Ottawa,  Laeon,  Illinois :  Circleville,  Salem,  Lebinon,  Ohio : 
Janesville,  Beloit,  Wisconsin:  St.  Clair,  Grand  Rapids,  Grand  Haven, 
Battle   Creek,  Sheboygan  Falls,  Michigan:    Indianapolis,  Lafayette, 


4      Willson^s  Series  of  Headers  and  Spellers. 


Union  City^  Indiana:  Council  Bluffs^  Iowa:  St.  Paul^  Minnesota; 
Memphis-,  Tennessee:  Leavenworth.,  Kansas:  San  Francisco^  Califor- 
nia, &C.J  &c.,  &c. 


II.  Notices  from  the  Public  Press,  Reviews,  &c. 

From  many  hundreds  we  select  the  following : 

In  their  wonderful  variety,  the  large  amount  of  practical  instruction 
conveyed,  and  the  useful  knowledge  embodied  in  them,  these  volumes 
surpass  all  others  we  have  seen. — New  York  Observer. 

We  earnestly  recommend  parents  and  teachei-s  to  adopt  Willson's  Se- 
ries of  Readers.— xVew  York  Independent. 

The  Series  is  excellent  in  aim  and  admirable  in  execution.  It  de- 
serves to  become  a  favorite  in  the  school  and  in  the  family Xew  York 


These  volumes  are  the  best  works  of  the  kind  we  have  ever  seen. — 
Willis's  Home  Journal. 

This  is  the  most  valuable  series  of  school-books,  in  our  opinion,  that 
has  yet  been  published Buffalo  Express. 

The  Hai-pers  have  never  produced  any  better  books  than  this  Series 
of  School  and  Family  Readers. — Philadelphia  Press. 

As  a  series  we  prefer  them  to  any  we  have  yet  seen. — New  Hampshire 
Patriot. 

We  have  never  examined  a  set  of  school  books  with  so  much  satisfac- 
tion as  this  series  of  Mr.  Willson Lutheran  Observer  (Baltimore). 

The  best  works  of  the  kind  that  have  ever  fallen  under  our  notice. — 
Baltimore  American. 

They  evince  the  most  thorough  success  of  the  author  in  the  attain- 
ment of  his  object Morning  Pennsylvanian. 

The  child  who  finds  these  attractive  school-books  dull  will  be  a  dunce 
to  the  end  of  time Worcester  Daily  Spy. 

Here  we  have  the  most  beautiful  Series  of  Readers,  we  suppose,  that 
the  world  ever  saw. — Methodist  Quarterly  Review. 

The  plan  is  one  that  combines  peculiar  attractions  for  the  young  pupil 
with  solid  and  valuable  instruction. — New  York  Tribune. 

A  series  of  school  books  of  exceeding  value — Albany  Evening  Stand- 
ard. 

These  Readers  are  unsurpassed  in  the  whole  range  of  elementary 
works  of  instruction  in  the  English  langunge. — Newark  Daily  Advertiser 
(New  Jersey). 

This  series  of  Readers  is  a  realization  of  our  ideal  of  school  books. — 
Kennebec  Jotirnal  (Maine). 

These  Readers  impress  us  as  having  unusual  claims  upon  all  who  are 
engaged  in  the  work  of  elementary  instruction Christian  Witness. 


Willson's  Series  of  Headers  and  Spellers,     5 


We  think  these  Readers  are  a  decided  improvement  upon  any  hitherto 
\BBm6..— Central  Christian  Herald  Cincinnati). 

They  contain  the  two  essential  elements  which  such  books  should  pos- 
sess, viz.,  that  while  they  instruct  they  amuse,  and  they  instruct  all  the 
more  because  they  amuse.— iVet«  England  Farmer. 

By  far  the  most  attractive  and  complete  system  of  School  Readers  ever 
oflfered  to  the  American  public. —  Western  Christian  Advocate  (Cincin- 
nati). 

This  series  is  the  most  complete  and  satisfactoiy  of  any  which  has  ever 
met  our  noiice.—Neio  Haven  Daily  Journal. 

As  books  designed  to  teach  children  the  art  of  reading,  we  believe  them 
to  be  far  in  advance  of  any  other  Readers. — Baltimore  Christian  Advo- 
cate. 

In  the  first  volumes  of  the  Series  the  selections  are  specially  designed 
to  promote  naturalness  of  intonation ;  and  it  is  almost  impossible  for  the 
child  to  read  them  in  that  dry,  measured,  artificial  manner  which  is  so 
common. — American  Quarterly  Church  Review. 

The  pictures  in  these  books  are  really  illustrations  of  the  reading  les- 
sons, and  not  mere  pictures. — Bethlehem  Advocate  (Pennsylvania). 

The  best  adapted  to  their  purpose  of  all  the  school  reading-books  that 
we  have  ever  seen — Salem  Register  (Massachusetts). 

An  admirable  Series,  aiming  not  only  to  instruct  in  the  noble  Art  of 
Reading  well,  but  at  the  same  time  imparting  a  great  amount  of  useful 
knowledge. — American  Theological  Review. 

Although  heartily  opposed  to  the  innovations  and  revolutions  in 
school  books,  which  entail  a  new  set  at  the  commencement  of  every  quar- 
ter, we  commend  the  introduction  of  this  Series  of  Readers  into  every 
school  in  the  land,  and  an  auto-da-fe  of  all  previous  ones,  with  total  dis- 
regard to  their  cost New  York  Times. 

We  unhesitatingly  pronounce  Willson's  Readers  the  best  books  of  tho 
kind  ever  issued. — Muscatine  Journal  (Iowa). 

We  consider  Willson's  Readers  to  be  eminently  superior  to  any  other 
Series  of  Readers  with  Avhich  we  are  acquainted. — Des  Moines  Register 
(Iowa). 

III.  Notices  from  Educational  Journals. 

An  admirable  series  of  Readers.  We  see  nothing  to  stand  in  the  way 
of  a  great  success — Maine  Teacher. 

These  Readers  combine  more  of  the  essential  requisites  of  utility  in 
this  department  of  instruction,  than  has  been  attained  by  any  other  au- 
thor with  whom  we  are  acquainted Massachusetts  Teacher. 

Willson's  Fifth  Reader  is  fully  as  satisfactory  as  the  others.  Its  elo- 
cutionary matter  is  excellent  in  character  and  sufficient  in  amount,  aud 
there  is  no  want  of  variety  in  the  style  of  the  selections New  Hamp- 
shire Journal  of  Education, 


6      Willson's  Series  of  Readers  and  Spellers. 


'  These  books  are  got  up  with  a  view  to  their  usefulness.  They  may- 
well  find  a  place  at  the  fireside,  as  well  as  in  the  school-room.    If  teacii- 

ers  will  examine  them  they  will  be  satisfied  of  their  great  merits Rhode 

Island  Schoolmaster. 

This  is  the  first  attempt  to  bring  the  elements  of  the  sciences  into  a 
systematic  series  of  reading  lessons ;  and  we  are  free  to  confess  that  we 
are  agreeably  disappointed.  The  attempt  has  been  a  success. — JS'ew 
York  Teacher. 

The  plan  and  design  of  these  books  are  admirable Pennsylvania 

School  Journal. 

Other  School  Readers  remain  on  the  shelf  undisturbed  by  our  chil- 
dren, but  these  have  been  read  with  great  interest  by  all  of  them The 

Educator  (Pennsylvania). 

There  is  every  thing  to  recommend  these  Readers.  They  have  met 
with  so  cordial  a  reception  from  the  public  that  their  success  is  demon- 
strated beyond  question. — Indiana  School  Journal. 

We  have  always  abstained  from  commending  any  series  of  Readers  us 
the  best;  but  we  confess  ourselves  sorely  tempted,  by  this  series  of  Read- 
ers, to  abandon  that  ground. — Illinois  Teacher. 

Mr.  Willson  has  wrought  out  his  plan  with  eminent  skill  and  judg- 
ment— Michigan  Journal  of  Education. 

Willson's  Readers  have  an  idea  in  them,  which  we  have  often  won- 
dered has  never  been  attempted  before.  The  idea  is  most  excellent, 
and,  if  successfully  carried  out  according  to  the  plan  proposed,  will  ef- 
fect a  revolution  in  this  department  of  school  literature. — Iowa  School 
Journal. 

He  who  reads  these  books  as  they  should  be  read,  will  not  only  have 
acquired  the  art  of  good  reading^  but  will  have  collected  a  large  fund 
of  useful  knowledge. — Iowa  Instructor. 

When  our  attention  was  first  called  to  the  plan  of  these  Readers,  our 
mind  was  full  of  skepticism;  but  a  careful  examination  of  the  books 
destroyed  all  our  unbelief.  Even  the  Natural  History  portions  are  so 
enlivened  with  description,  incident,  anecdote,  and  poetry,  that  we  can 
not  conceive  of  any  thing  more  charming  in  the  way  of  reading  lessons. 
-^Missouri  Educator. 


rV.  Testimonials  from  Educators. 

I  find  a  greater  variety  of  interesting  selections  in  these  Readers  than 
I  have  ever  met  with  in  any  or  all  other  series. — Prof.  A.  P.  Stone, 
Principal  of  Plymouth  High  School,  Massachusetts,  and  late  President 
American  Institute  of  Instruction. 

I  shall  earnestly  recommend  the  Series  as  the  best  in  the  world Rev. 

Charles  Ayee,  Principal  High  School,  Brunswick,  Maine. 


Willson^s  Series  of  Readers  and  Spellers. 


They  are  the  best  Readers  extant.  I  hope  the  time  is  not  far  distant 
when  they  will  be  used  in  all  our  schools. — H.  F.  Howaed,  Principal 
Normal  School^  N.  Bridgeton^  Maine. 

I  am  prepared  to  approve  the  Readers  in  full,  and  to  labor  for  their 

adoption  here  and  elsewhere ^W.  J.  Rolfe,  Principal  High  School, 

Cambridge,  Massachusetts. 

They  combine,  in  a  happy  manner,  all  that  is  necessary  in  Element- 
ary Instruction  in  Reading,  with  systematic  instruction  in  Natural  Sci- 
ence.— Hon.  David  N.  Camp,  Superintendent  Public  Instruction  of 
Connecticut. 

These  Readers  will  do  more  than  any  others  to  excite  in  the  minds  of 
children  that  interest  in  study  and  that  love  of  nature  which  are  so 
essential  to  the  right  development  of  character. — J.  B.  Chapin,  State 
School  Commissioner  of  Rhode  Island. 

I  think  this  Series  of  Readers  leaves  nothing  to  be  desired,  either  in 
respect  to  manner,  matter,  mode  of  treatment,  or  mechanical  execution. 
— Prof.  Wm.  F.  Phelps,  late  Principal  Normal  School,  New  York.,  and 
noio  Principal  of  State  Normal  School  of  Minnesota. 

I  regard  Willson's  Readers  as  better  than  any  others  that  I  have  ever 
seen.— Daniel  Holbeook,  late  Superintendent  Public  Schools  of  Roch- 
ester., New  York. 

A  beautiful  and  inviting  series.  Children  will  soon  settle  the  ques- 
tion of  their  use  for  themselves,  if  the  opportunity  be  offered  them. — 
Hon.  Heney  C.  Hiokok,  late  Superintendent  of  Schools  of  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania. 

The  Plan  of  Willson'a  Readers  possesses  characteristics  of  great  value. 
— Hon.  Anson  Smyth,  late  State  School  Commissioner  of  Ohio. 

As  much  as  I  like  the  mechanical  execution  of  Willsbn's  Readers,  it  is 
as  nothing  when  compared  to  their  Plan  and  development.  How  much 
more  useful  men  and  women  our  pupils  will  make  when  they  are  in- 
structed on  the  plan  which  the  artist  and  author  have  so  ably  developed 
in  these  books !  The  principle  in  the  School  and  Family  Charts  is  the 
same  as  in  the  Readers. — Daniel  Hough,  late  Principal  of  First  Ward 
School  of  Cincinnati. 

These  are  remarkable  books  of  their  kind.  They  raise  an  important 
educational  problem,  namely:  Can  skill  in  reading  and  knowledge  in 
the  physical  sciences  be  successfully  acquired  at  the  same  time?  If 
practice  shall  answer  this  affirmatively,  these  books,  in  my  judgment, 
stand  without  a  rival. — Prof.  G.  W.  Hoss,  State  Superintendent  of  Pub- 
lic Instruction  of  Indiana. 

The  plan  of  Willson's  Readers  is  a  novel  one,  and  has  been  executed 
with  a  master^s  hand — Prof.  J.  V.  N.  Standish,  Lombard  University, 
Galesbury,  Illinois. 

Preferring  Willson's  Readers  above  all  others  with  which  we  are  ao- 


8      Willson^'s  Series  of  Headers  and  Spellers. 


quainted,  we  cordially  recommend  that  they  be  introduced  into  the 

schools  of  our  respective  counties. 

Wm.  M.  Brooks,  Sup.  of  Tremont  Co.- 

and  Prin.  of  Tabor  Lit.  Inst.j 
J.  R.  Little,  Sup.  of  Mills  Co.^ 
J.  A.  Woods,  Sup.  of  Page  Co., 
R.  S.  Hughes,  Sup.  of  Jefferson  Co.., 
Rev.  D.  V.  Smock,  Sup.  of  Keokuk  Co.., 
J.  Root,  Jr.,  Sup.  of  Iowa  Co., 
R.  F.  Ripley,  Sup.  of  Hardin  Co., 


>  Iowa. 


For  hundreds  of  similar  testimonials  send  for  our  Educational  Pam- 
phlets, which  will  be  sent  free  on  application. 


A  SERIES  OF  COLORED  SCHOOL 
AND  FAMILY  CHARTS, 

BY  MAECnJS  WILLSON  AND  N.  A.  CALKINS. 

An  accompanying 

MANUAL  OP  INSTRUCTION, 

BY  MAEOITJS  WILLSON. 

These  beautiful  charts,  twenty-two  in  number,  each  about  22  by  30 
inches,  may  be  had  either  in  sheets  or  mounted  on  eleven  pasteboard  cards. 

Notices,  Testimonials,  &c. 

The  most  extensive  and  perfect  series  of  School  Charts  published  in 
this  country. — Massachusetts  Teacher. 

Send  for  these  Charts  and  use  them.  If  you  do,  our  word  for  it,  you 
will  bless  us  for  penning  these  lines. — Rhode  Island  Schoolmaster. 

We  should  be  glad  to  see  these  Charts  in  every  school-house  in  the 
land — Connecticut  School  Journal. 

The  most  attractive  and  beautiful  School  Charts  ever  published 

Maine  Teacher. 

We  have  seen  nothing  in  the  shape  of  School  Charts  so  beautiful  and 
valuable  aa  these. — Ohio  Educational  Monthly. 


Willso7i*s  Series  of  headers  and  Spellers.     9 


A  school-room  with  these  twenty-t-wo  Charts  suspended  on  its  walls  is 
converted  from  what  is  too  often  a  prison  of  dreariness  to  a  picture-gal- 
lery of  childish  delights. — Indiana  School  Journal. 

There  has  been  nothing  published  in  the  educational  line  for  years 
that,  to  our  mind,  is  such  a  means  of  conveying  knowledge  as  these 
Charts  and  the  Manual  that  accompanies  them. — Iowa  Instructor. 

Willson's  Manual  is  the  truest  American  expression  of  the  principles 
of  Pestalozzi  that  has  yet  been  made.  Mr.  Willson  is  legitimately  car- 
rying out,  in  this  Manual  and  the  accompanying  Charts,  the  basis  of  his 
admirable  system  of  School  Readers. — New  York  Teacher. 

Willson's  Manual  is  admirably  suited  to  the  object  for  which  it  has 
been  prepared.  The  Charts  are  the  most  complete  and  beautiful  ever 
published. — W.  H.  Wells,  Superintendent  of  Public  Schools^  Chicago. 

I  highly  approve  of  the  design  and  execution  of  the  School  and  Family 
Charts,  and  the  accompanying  Manual. — S.  S.  Randall,  Superintend- 
ent of  Public  Instruction^  New  York  city. 

I  am  delighted  with  the  "  School  and  Family  Charts,"  and  the  accom- 
panying "Manual."  I  design  to  make  the  Charts  the  basis  of  my  talk 
on  Object  Lessons  at  the  Educational  Conventions  which  I  am  holding. — 
E.  P.  Weston,  Superintendent  of  Schools  of  Maine. 

I  am  happy  to  express  my  hearty  approval  of  the  plan  of  the  works 
and  of  its  execution — David  N.  Camp,  Superintendent  of  Public  Schools 
of  Connecticut.,  and  Principal  of  State  Normal  School. 

The  "School  and  Family  Charts"  have  been  in  use  in  the  Normal 
School  of  New  Jersey  and  its  branches  for  several  weeks.  They  are  al- 
ready regarded  by  our  primary  teachers  as  a  necessity. — W.  F.  Phelps, 
Principal  of  New  Jersey  State  Normal  School. 

In  the  preparation  of  these  Charts  and  Manual  you  have  done  a  great 

and  good  work  for  the  cause  of  school  and  home  education  in  America 

Prof.  J.  L.  Teacy,  Assistant  Superintendent  of  Public  Schools  of  Mis- 
souri. 

I  am  myself  so  well  pleased  with  the  Charts  and  Manual  that  I  shall 
use  them  constantly  in  my  own  family. — Edwaed  Richaeds,  Principal 
of  Illinois  State  Normal  School. 

In  my  opinion  these  Charts  are  the  most  valuable  contribution  that 

has  ever  been  made  to  the  cause  of  education  in  our  countiy ^Moses 

Ingalls,  Agent  of  Iowa  State  Teachers^  Association. 

I  think  Willson's  Manual  the  best  thing  on  Primary  Instruction  that 
has  yet  appeared  in  this  country Samuel  P.  Bates,  Deputy  Superin- 
tendent of  Common  Schools  of  Pennsylvania. 

We  could  not  well  do  without  them.  They  should  be  in  every  school 
in  the  country. — J.  V.  Montqomeey,  Principal  of  Pennsylvania  State 
Model  School. 

Every  one  is  delighted  with  the  School  and  Family  Charts.    No  such 

charts  have  ever  before  been  published  in  any  country Geoeqe  W. 

Minns,  Pincipal  of  Normal  School^  San  Franciseo. 


10    Willsoji's  Series  of  Readers  and  Si^ellers. 


The  Charts  are  the  wonder  of  the  age  in  this  department.  Both  edit- 
ors and  publishers  have  executed  their  parts  nobly. — W.  E.  Sheldon, 
Principal  of  Public  Schools^  West  Newton^  Massachusetts. 

Their  publication  marks  an  important  step  in  the  progress  of  Object 
Teaching  in  this  country. — Rev.  B.  G.  Noktheop,  State  Agent  of  Mas- 
sachusetts Board  of  Education. 

These  Charts  surpass  my  highest  expectations.— D.  Franklin  Wells, 
Professor  of  Theory  and  Practice  of  Teaching^  State  University  of 
Iowa. 

We  are  delighted  with  your  School  and  Family  Chartd.— John  Swett, 
Supeiintendent  of  Public  Schools  of  California. 


PRIMARY  OBJECT  LESSONS. 
Primary  Object  Lessons  for  a  Graduated  Course  of  Develop- 
ment.    A  manual  for  Teachers  and  Parents,  with  Les- 
sons for  the  Proper  Training  of  the  Faculties  of  Children- 
By  N.  A.  Calkins.     Illustrations.     12mo,  Cloth. 

The  fundamental  idea  of  this  work  is  that  primary  education  should 
aim  to  develop  the  observing  powers,  rather  than,  as  is  the  usual  plan, 
to  exercise  the  memory.  For  this  purpose  a  series  of  interesting  exer- 
cises has  been  framed  to  develop  the  ideas  of  form,  color,  number,  size, 
weight,  sound,  and  place.  ""The  work,"  says  an  eminent  educator, 
''meets  fully  the  demand  that  is  now  made  for  guides  to  teachers  in 
properly  directing  the  minds  of  children.  There  has  been  much  written 
on  the  subject,  and  many  attempts  at  systematizing,  but  we  have  not 
seen  any  thing  so  well  adapted  to  suggest  to  teachers  a  practical  course 
of  traini7ig  for  our  schools  as  the  work  before  us." 

MANUAL  OF  OBJECT  LESSONS. 
Manual  of  Object  Lessons   and  Elementary  Instruction. 
By  N.  A.  Calkins,  Author  of  "Primary  Object  Les- 
sons."    Illustrations.     12mo,  Cloth.     {Nearly  Ready.) 


GERMAN  SEBIES  OF  SCHOOL  AND  FAMILY  BEADEBS. 

THE  SECOND  BOOK  OF  NATURE. 

Translated  from  Willson's  Readers  by  G.  Bremen.     Pages 
445.     Illustrated  by  318  Engravings. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


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SEP  11 '6/ "o  rW 

LOAI^  DEPT. 

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LD  21A-60w-2,'67 


General  Library 
TJniversirv  of  California 


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